Understanding Theory: Realism

Hi Everyone,

Today we are going to be discussing one of the theories of international politics, realism. 😀 There are many other political theories that we will end up talking about, but we have to start somewhere and this is a good place. We are going to talk about topics like the balance of power systems, Great Powers, and hegemony. Even though these concepts might seem foreign to you right now, hopefully you will understand by the end. 💙

Realism

Realism is not just one cohesive theory, different theorists have taken it in different directions to spread out and become 'Neorealists,' 'structural Realists,' 'offensive Realists,' 'defensive Realists,' and many other dependent on the issue being assessed at hand. Think of Realism as one of many ways to think about the international sphere.

Realism became really popular during the Cold War when you had two major powers, the United States and the Soviet Union. We would call these states Great Powers because they were seen as having the strongest ability to influence other states. Great Powers had the most power to control other states' behavior by coercing them. States make decisions either by the force from other or decisions by themselves (Slaughter, 2011).

Your early Realists were coming up with this theory on the end of WWII and the Holocaust, going into the Cold War. Morgenthau, one of the first and most well-known Realists, was an academic that had fled Germany during the Holocaust and began trying to change American ideals regarding International Politics (Jervis, 1994). Morgenthau mentioned that a lot of the conflict in politics is in "the desire for power," wherein states wanted to control others, but similar moral principals and cultures allowed for the creation of balance of powers (Jervis, 1994). Those with the most power are also able to convince themselves that the policies that they create in self-interest are actually in the interests of all the nations, and that this was especially common with liberal democracies (Jervis, 1994).

This balance of powers system is the creators on concepts like multipolarities and bipolarities among the Great Powers (i.e. the United States and the USSR during the Cold War). They shared the similar interests of trying to prevent nuclear war, so despite the anarchic system in the international realm, there were opportunities for both conflict and negotiation and Realism explained the process of wars, alliances, cooperation, imperialism, and other processes in a way people understood (Walt, 1998). Morgenthau saw the system of bipolarity (only two Great Powers) as very dangerous and potentially explosive while Realists like Waltz saw it as relatively stable (Walt, 1998).

Another aspect of Realism that is discussed by Morgenthau is the concept of ideas, concepts, and norms (Jervis, 1994; Kupchan, 2014). The Great Powers attempt to push out their beliefs onto their fields of influence, like the push for communism versus capitalism during the Cold War, and these transitions can potentially be explosive if the culture of one hegemon is not similar to the upcoming hegemon (Kupchan, 2014). This was described with four areas of hegemonic order; geopolitical, socioeconomic, cultural, and commercial logics (Kupchan, 2014). These different logics, and areas of influence, have been both affected by the hegemon and the hegemon has been affected by less powers states in these areas (Kupchan, 2014).

In totality, Realism believes that there is an anarchic system in the international sphere, where either a hegemon or Great Powers can control the rest of the community of nations and states. Realism guides the process of "the desire for power" and think of it as everyone dislikes the hegemon because everyone actually wants to be the hegemon. The hegemon is seen as the most powerful in the international realm while there are still regional powers that can influence the lower powers in an area. Think of it as like a hierarchy. Different hegemonies have had different thoughts on how they should control others and how that should benefit them, so this has led to some very different and sometimes violent methods of world order. Remember, feel free to email me if you have any questions! 😀❤

---

Citations

Jervis, R. (1994). Hans Morgenthau, Realism, and the Scientific Study of International Politics. Social Research 61:4. 853-876.

Kupchan, C.A. (2014). The Normative Foundations of Hegemony and The Coming Challenge to Pax Americana. Security Studies 23:2. 219-257. DOI: 10.1080/09636412.2014.874205

Slaughter, A.M. (2011) International Relations, Principal Theories. Published in: Wolfrum, R. (Ed.) Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Oxford University Press, 2011) www.mpepil.com.

Walt, S.M. (1998). International Relations: One World, Many Theories. Foreign Policy 110. 29-46.