Group 1: 5 Realism Theorists
(F) Day of the week: Thursday Class: IS207 Created Time: April 23, 2020 2:39 PM Database: Class Notes Database Date: April 23, 2020 2:39 PM Days Till Date: Passed Last Edited Time: February 6, 2022 4:27 PM Type: Presentation Notes
Topic: 5 Realism Theorists’ Perspectives
Introduction
Pessimistic View of the world
Focus: on relative power (among states) to survive / dominate
States build up their power for their own survival
International System is anarchic and everyone is on equal ground
Cooperation: only for own interests
Balance of Power: shifts will lead to conflict
I. Edward Hallet Carr
Nationality: British
Career: Historian, Diplomat, IR Theorists
Notable works: The twenty year crisis
Assumptions
-
Believes liberalism is a “Utopia” concept
International system is a wishful concept to prevent conflicts, that would never work
I. Humans must team up as groups to survive
II. Politics is a power struggle by self-interested groups
III. Political groups prioritize power and security more than economy.
II. Robert Gilpin
Nationality: American
School of though: neoclassicalism realism
Assumptions
Hegemonic Stability Theory: International System will be more stable with only one Hegemony, with no competing rival
State-centric realism: states are the biggest actor in int’ affairs
- Book: US Power and the multinational cooperation
International relations and exchanges rely on Hegemony (US) that provides public goods, law,
and order
- Hegemony countries are temporary, keeping up their control is cost worthy
III. Samuel Huntington
School of though: Classical Realism
Notable works: The clash of civilizations
Assumptions
- States are the primary actors in IR in maximizing their power
- Humans have to make difficult decisions with incomplete context and information
IV. Hans Morgenthau
School of though: Classical Realism
Nationality: German, American
Career: Professor in US
Notable Work: Politics Among Nations
Assumptions
6 Principals of Morgenthau’s Political Realism
- Human nature shapes objective laws that confines politics
- statesman act for defined interests (power)
- Foreign policy conducted changes according to the context the country is in
- Statecraft cannot act according to morality and drop state’s interests or security
- Nations act for power, not according to moral laws. (war, crisis, morally wrong actions sacrificing human rights…
the greater of two evils
Kenneth Waltz
Neorealism
Nationality: American
Notable Work: Theory of International Relations
Assumptions
Decentralized anarchy between states
-
Believes in Bipolar system are more stable and peaceful
US & USSR balancing one another
Conclusion
They are political scientists, devoting their lives to studying international politics