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Realism In International Relations

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International relations is the study of the political and social interaction of state, non-state actors, and individuals. It is a universal descriptor used to emphasize a multifaceted and multidisciplinary subject area. There are contesting theories which seek to simplify and describe the contemporary world of international affairs. Realism is one of its theories, which characterizes the international political system as anarchic, comprised of states possessing military capabilities, and distinguished by inter-state power competition. Realism mentions about human behavior and the nature of the international system that practice ‘self-help’ to ensure the state’s ‘survival’ by means of power. Realism also offers international relations theorists …show more content…

Balance of power widely developed by Kenneth Waltz is a paradigmatically typical example of the world’s political trends. Balance of power refers to the means by which a state is likely to manipulate its ability, for example by forming an alliance with other states, simply to capture more powerful or to become superior state. For example, NATO is sometime referred to as the Atlantic Alliance. It was established in 1949 with protecting the security of Western Europe. It was set up not only to deter an attack on Europe by the Soviet Union, but also to alley West European fears of revival of German militarism (Martin Griffiths,Terry O'Callaghan&Steven C. Roach, 2007). Moreover, from the political perspectives, US does so simply and mainly to balance its power with China who apparently seems cunning and bullying over many world’s issues. Another example that indicate this term is Cold War. Between 1947 and 1991, the international system was dominated by bipolarity; Russia and United States had the status of superpower and, as Mearsheimer suggests, due to the balance of power determined by the bipolar system, “the post-war era, the period of the Cold War, has been much more peaceful” (Voinea, …show more content…

In addition, this concept defines the fact that the states in anarchical system could not let their national interests left behind and thus their national survival endangered. They must fight and struggle for the better. Regarding its definition, the government of each state must seek the resolution to protect their population from aggression. According to US invasion in Iraq, the US claimed Saddam Hussein obtained weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and was close to achieving nuclear capabilities, which was believed to be a national security threat to the US (Riley, 2008), hence, the US used its military superiority to topple Saddam’s regime. As a result, in 1991 the UN and the international community came to support Kuwait, which had been invaded by Iraq, yet in 2003 the US unilaterally invaded Iraq and the UN was unable to stop the invasion.
In conclusion, realism makes a major contribute to the current situation in international relations. Realism imply over the intricate reasons behind international system, thus it assists in understanding the causes of conflict and crucial decisions in world politics. Through the case study presented, these theory has shown that Realist concept such as anarchy, self-help, balance of power, security dilemma, and national interest can be used effectively in the explanation of contemporary

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Slide 1 Cold War Task 5 By: Cristina Prince Slide 2 The Soviet Union and the United States rose as superpowers, and the world progressed towards bipolar politics, a state in which two rather equally matched sides confronted one another. The United States strengthened much of Europe through the Marshall Plan, giving $12 billion dollars in aid to Western Europe after WWII. Resulting in implementing of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a defense agreement meant to organize opposition to the Soviet Union and China, both politically and militarily.

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There is a clear difference in tone in Amy Tan and Firoozeh Dumas essays. A reader would find Amy’s tone in her essay “Fish Cheeks” to be disappointing and embarrassing. In this essay, Amy Tan narrates about how her family embarrassed and disappointed her during a Christmas Eve dinner. She was disappointed by the actions of her relatives. “My relatives licked the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table, dipping them into the dozen or so plates of food” (111).

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The Cold War was a time when The United States not only secured it’s place as an influencer of international affairs, but explored its new standing as a rival to other world leaders. Immediately following World War 2, The USSR and America’s relationship began to dissolve as fundamental differences in basic beliefs for government and military organization became clear, and without a common enemy to unite the two, tension and conflict would separate the superpowers for almost 45 years. The policy of containment, The Truman Doctrine, and NSC-68 would each play a pivotal role in the Unites States stretching its hand of democracy into foreign lands, and using military force against the regimes that began to stand in freedom’s way. Beginning in 1946, the Policy of Containment was proposed by George Kennan in a document now titled, The Long Telegram. He presented his hopes that the United States would attempt to keep communism and regimes within their current borders.

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For Mearsheimer, this is the very basis of realistic thinking and in turn equates international order to anarchy. 2. Great powers maintain and continue to acquire militaristic capabilities in order to eradicate the idea of weakness and establish sovereignty over lesser powers. 3. A country can never be sure of another country’s motive hence each party is left

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The first great-war shattered the human mind so profound that out of its aftermaths’ emerged a fresh discipline (in 1919 at the University of Whales known to us as International Relations) proposed to prevent war. “It was deemed by the scholars that the study of International Politics shall find the root cause of the worlds political problems and put forward solutions to help politicians solve them” (Baylis 2014:03). International Relations happened to play the role of a ‘correcting-mechanism’ restoring the world order of peace and amity by efforting at its best to maintain the worlds’ status quo. However with the emergence of a second world war much more massive that the first put at stake all the values of that young discipline of IR. The

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The Gulf War- A Realist Perspective Introduction Persian Gulf War, also called Gulf War (1990–91), was an international conflict that was triggered by Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990. Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, ordered the invasion and occupation of Kuwait with the apparent aim of • acquiring that nation’s large oil reserves, • canceling a large debt Iraq owed Kuwait, • and expanding Iraqi power in the region. If Saddam were successful in capturing Kuwait, he would be considered the Supreme Leader of the Oil rich area. But it was not only a question of oil; territory was another relevant issue in Saddam’s agenda. He wanted to gain access of an old disputed territory, Kuwait.

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This means there is no term mentioned as an International Organization but merely the State. Realism also believes the State is deciding on the future of the people. In connection with it, the state is certainly confident that whatever actions are correct and appropriate, even if it is done by means

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It is heavily influenced from the Groation tradition. According to this perspective, regimes are much more pervasive and exist in all areas of international relations. Contrary to the conventional structure and modified structural, this viewpoint moves away from realist thinking as it is “too limited to explain an increasingly complex, interdependent, and complex world.” This approach rejects the assumption that the international system is comprised of states and the balance of power is solely due to force. Rather, it argues that elites are the principal actors and that they have national and transnational ties.

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK It involves using theories to explain the existing problem in various situations. Realism theory and the dependency theory will be used to explain the existing conflict between Israel and Palestine. It will also be able to justify the use of force by the Israeli government when dealing with Palestinian Hamas. Realism theory in the Israeli and Palestine conflict Realism theory explains how states are selfish, struggle to gain power and succeed in acquiring its national interests in the international system. Realists identify world politics as a trans-historical and trans-geographical struggle for power, and that in this context Thucydides’ dictum that, “the strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept” (where strength and weakness are calculated by military capabilities) is the stark and universal truth (Schmidt, 2007; Thucydides, 1972, p. 402).

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It believes that all individuals are born with an increasing desire to own power hardwired inside them. In these circumstances dominant states should do direct high power over their rivals. In the other hand, structural realism does not define the quest for power, instead it is focused on the structure of the international

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In practice, that is to say, this essay will first and foremost explain what is meant by Neo-Realism and Neo-Liberalism. It will then hone in on a similarity of crucial importance, namely that both are in agreement that the international system is structured anarchically. The rationale behind this is twofold: firstly, anarchy lays the foundations upon which both theories are built and, secondly, it is from this similarity that fundamental points of contention come to light. For example, although there is consensus that the international system is structured anarchically, neo-realists and neoliberals hold differing views on the nature of anarchy: the former argues that anarchy is all-encompassing whereas the latter contends that

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The current work is meant to explain the differences and similarities between the most dominant theories in international relations, Realism and Liberalism, both theories have some similarities and differences but much more important and interesting is to discuss and explain what differs and makes similar both theories. Conflicts and wars, Similarities and differences between Realism and Liberalism: Both Liberalism and Realism believes that there is no world government that can prevent countries to go to war on one another. For both theories military power is important and both Realism and Liberalism can understand that countries can use military power to get what they need or want. Also, both theories are conscious that without military

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Instead Waltz sets out to prove his international relations theory in a scientific manner, while choosing to ignore the normative concerns of classical and neoclassical realism (Jackson and Sørensen, 2003: 84). The theory of neorealism – or structural realism – focuses on structures (and on the interacting units, the constants and the changes of the system) as the determinative powers within the scope of international relations (main principle of those being that of anarchy). Jackson and Sørensen (2003: 84) also point out that actors are viewed

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Each theory has been developed and grounded on various perspectives relating to human nature and the world in general, but as the world is constantly evolving, the usefulness of each theory is also constantly being tested in the face of critical issues as they arise and the success or failure of these applications will determine in essence which of these theories will stand the test of time. This essay is an analysis of the theory of Idealism and whether or not its application in modern international politics is capable of working successfully to solve the common goods problem. The Theory of Idealism Idealism is one of the major theories in international relations. “The basic insight of this theory is that the national characteristics of individual States matter for their international relations.”

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The international relations schools of thought known as Realism and Idealism identify specific and similar characteristics of actors in the conceptual development of their theories. While many of these characteristics can be generalized as being synonymous with the two theories, both theories make a separate distinction in what specifically constitutes an actor. In Realism, the term “actor” refers directly and solely to the state: a combination of government, leaders, decision-makers, etc, that act as a unitary entity to promote the interests of the state. Idealists, however, expand on what constitutes an actor to include both the state and people. Not only do the principles of Idealism assert that the state and people should be considered actors, in fact, both they must be viewed as actors.

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