Realism In International Relations

The idea of Realism was unofficially was created in fifth century BC by Thucydides, and continued through Niccolo Machiavelli. This lead to the first official IR theory of realism in Thomas Hobbes, amd Hans Morgenthau, known as Classical Realist. From there Classical Realism evolved to the ideas of Kenneth Waltz, which brought along the ideas of neo-realism or structural realism theory. Then came offensive, defensive, and neoclassical realism. Overall the main idea of realism is defined by internationalrelations.org as “when looking at the political system, or more specifically, the international system, realists focus their ideas about how international relations work based upon the concepts of power and security.” ("Realism

Realism occurs everyday, one may not know but its the reason why know not everyone gets to live their lives to a happy ending, its the reason why sometimes you can't get everything you want in your life. Realism is the attitude or practice of accepting a situation as it is and being prepared to deal with it accordingly. Realism is a trend which takes place in the nineteenth century during which literature depicted life "as is," and focuses on real life. This literary movement frequently depicted everyday life; it follows the rule of a phenomenal world and that nothing is added to your life. It is the reverse job of what a filter would do to all the troubles that one may encounter later in life. Realism is

The end of the First World War saw a shift in political thought towards liberalism through the creation of the League of Nations to avoid a recurrence of international aggression, while realism seemed to have lost its credibility. The dramatic failure of the League in stopping another international war gave rise to serious questions and doubts about the effectiveness of the liberal ideas upon which it had been founded. This offered realism a chance to re-emerge as the dominant perspective in international relations. But, unlike the eighteenth-century definition of classical realism that argued that all states are motivated by the pursuit of power and expansion, the postwar realists modified the initial theory. For nearly 2,500 years, classical realism has displayed a principal unity of thought. One of the most important classical realist writer, Hans Morgenthau, came to have the largest impact on this field. His 1948 book, Politics Among Nations, coined an account of realism that dominated international relations for almost three decades.

Realism is a tricky art form. And it is less of a style than a commitment to paint the modern world honestly, without turning away from the brutal

Realism by its own definition refers to a theory that analyzes the relations among states, highlighting human nature as a major factor in politics. Motivations for global outreach, relationships, and conflicts are described as consequences from human aspects, such as fear, the desire to seek wealth, et cetera. Pessimism permeates the core of realism. Realists argue that power must be sought out in order for states to exist as thriving groups, even if it means to participate in conflicts (Baylis et al., 2017, 102). States are seen as the primary actors to focus upon when analyzing international relations (Houghton, 2007, 25). This broad approach brings heavy focus upon the issues which regard global peace and war and how major powers interact and maintain relations, assigning less focus at the individual level of analysis.

Generally speaking realism is straightforward and does not exaggerate things. Realism writing is clear, concise, and true to real world occurrences. Realism showed a presence in America around 1865. A major influence for America was France starting their realist movement. It wasn't long after America followed the French and put their own twist on it, just like curly fries. ;) However, the French were not the main reason for America's Realist literary time period. According to the staff of Longwood University American realism “began as a

Realism, in strictest terms, was a literary movement that found it’s footing in the mid-1800s in France, quickly spreading its meaning into Europe, Russia, and the United States. Realism, itself, is all about allowing an author to use his or her words to illustrate the real world around them. Realist authors often wrote about ordinary citizens, such as you and I, and giving these characters a meaning that many readers wouldn’t initially see. By doing this, these authors prove that every life is meaningful, and drama, whether we want it or not, is ever-present in our lives.

Throughout history man has used his writings to record events, tell stories, inspire others, and share his opinions on certain subjects. Many intellectual movements in history have been carried along by the writings of influential authors and leaders. The literary works are then read by the common man and his opinions may or may not be influenced. Changes in his actions based on his readings will, in turn, affect how others act. The advancement of ideas and concepts eventually lead to a change in the thinking of an entire population and sometimes the world. This is true of the Realism Movement which started in the eighteenth century and has continued to the modern day.

The school of Realism is based on an idea that the nature of humans is flawed. Realism thus states that

The neorealist approach was initially started by Kenneth Waltz during the second world war. It was a development on classical realism, building upon the ideas of an anarchic international system, whilst also branching away from the classical realist thought. Realism came to be a popular ideology during world war two, but it’s origins go much further back, dating to 431-404 BC Thucydides’ account of the Peloponnesian wars. Within this essay, I will be primarily comparing the works of Hans Morganthau, a classical realist, and Kenneth Waltz, a neorealist, who developed a more integral stance on realism. Between these two political thinkers, I will be comparing and contrasting their realist and neorealist views on the international system and

Many scholars have observed IR (International relations) through different theoretical lens throughout time, the two most debated on theoretical lens in international relation are liberalism and realism. Realism according to Korab-Karpowicz is the view of international politics in which states are only concerned with there own self interest, security and struggle of power (Korab-Karpowicz/2017). While on the other hand liberalism defined by John Ikenberry is the focus of “society, interdependence and progressive change”(Ikenberry 2009/pg.204-205).Although realism sees the world in a pessimistic view, it is the most powerful descriptor of IR. This essay will support the claim that realism has provided a more convincing description of IR through the analysis of power lust, self security and economic greed states have shown throughout time. However the essay will also entertain liberalist arguments through the view of interdependence and common interest.

In this first point of contact I would like to draw a broad definition for what realism stands for, and, in doing so, I will appeal to Katherine Kearns, who asserts that “realism is an essentially pragmatic mode whose predication of character as something enacted, partially but inevitably, within environmental restrictions is design to reveal an imperilled ecological system of soul and society”. What she means by that is that realism functions as an individual morality within the society considered as a construct with its own laws and rules; that is to say,

Realism was a way to answer back for the people disapproving romanticism; all of my information is credited to Lorkowski. People believed that is a sensational event occurred, an object of perception is just a mental thing. If something was unobserved due to it being a past experience, it was considered not real. People thought if they looked at the positive claims then that would be justifiable. If  something happened that was not caused rationally then it was thought to be a belief, not real. Believed realism was defended and revealed through natural causes and theology.

In a world with many nations. Conflict seems to rise at any given moment. With the world and humanity evolving in a rapid rate. Technology advanced like nothing we have seen in the past centuries. The development of weapons of mass destruction. After two major world wars you would think we found world peace. Turns out that is not the case. With North Korea development of Nuclear threats and constant standoff between the two nations, North Korea and the United States of America. We are going to look at how these two major theories of international relations, realist and liberalist and why these two play a major role in the international relations.

International Relations as “a discipline concerned with the relationships existing between sovereign units in the international arena, wherein each unit (state or non-state actor) may be motivated by self interest and the pursuit of power, however the behavior of each unit is not independent of the prevailing norms existing within international society.