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Traditional Realism
I
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English School (‘International Society’) E
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Carr, Martin Wight, Hedley Bull
B
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The Realist Paradigm: Actors, Concepts, Underlying Assumptions
A
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By nature, states are competitive and conflict is inevitable
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Concepts
1
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international politics
- There is a system that functions within states and one that functions on an international
state
- Domestic politics: categorised by hierarchy
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No world government or greater power that
can arbitrate between interests that guarantees security among states
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2
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Things
that happen within the state that challenge the states ability to act as one unit
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If internal challenges are so great and the state loses control =
failed state
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It is a state of anarchy
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Have the sole
power over the territory that they govern
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External Challenges: Breaches of existing sovereignty that come from the outside
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State sovereignty is an important
principle in international relations and it must be upheld
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They should only be taken when an
important international interest is at stake: e
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State sovereignty can be challenged
if it has failed to protect the human rights of its citizens or violates their rights =
Humanitarian intervention
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Sovereignty is sacred
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National interest: states as rational actors
- The states foreign policy and its ability to protect and achieve its objects and goals in the
international sphere
- See primary interest of any state as ensuring its survival
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Best way to ensure
state sovereignty is having the resources to ensure sovereignty: military
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Does it deter a possible
aggressor?
4
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- Create spheres of influence, - Counter power of possible aggressors by creating
alliances
Balancing: allying with others against the prevailing threat; deterrence
- Allying with another state to deter a third state that may be a possible aggressor
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Aggressor states will be facing a big military power on the other side, they will not pursue
their aggression
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This is why nuclear weapons
are positive = they are a deterrence
Bandwagoning: allying with the state that is the source of danger
- Opposite of balancing
- Identify an aggressive state and ally with it if it is successful aggressor and the other side
appear weak = enhances the power of aggressive state
- If it is a bandwagoning system: Dangerous
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Underlying Assumptions
1
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- States are acting as their leaders are in terms of maximising power
‘Politics is a struggle for power over men and whatever its ultimate aim may be, power is its
immediate goal and the modes of acquiring, maintaining and demonstrating it determine the
technique of political action’
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States are unified, rational actors
- Statesmen represent the national interest of the entire state
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- States are rational in the sense that they operate on a clear field of national interest
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3
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Morality is not applicable to international relations
- Realist: The attempt to apply morality is irresponsible and idealistic
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Don’t expose citizens and military for some higher goal (private morality)
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Situational ethics = defined in situation leader finds himself
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All states are the same in this
regard: act in their own interests
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The role of theory is both explanatory and prescriptive
- Theory is supposed to uncover how the world is
- For realists: Theories do have a political function: their work is aimed at helping state
leaders understand the international system, identify their options and choose their policies
I
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Points of agreement
- Both agree on the main realist points: states main actors that function in states of anarchy,
motivated by national interest and security, maximising power, states are sovereign
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B
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‘International system’ vs
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A society of states (or international society) exists when a group of states,
conscious of certain common interests and common values, forms a society in the sense that
they conceive themselves to be bound by a common set of rules in their relations with one
another and share in the working of common institutions
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State sovereignty vs
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The approach to theory: the problem of ‘positivism’
American: Realism is based on IR and human behaviour function like the natural world,
have some laws and regularities
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English: Skeptical of these assumptions
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Human issues cannot be studied in ways that are scientific and
neutral
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English Realism: Anarchical nature is not deterministic - we can form international
society in which we can implement a certain degree of order in the anarchical world

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