Download Lecture #2: Realism

POLI 101: Dec. 10, 2014
Lecture #18: International Politics
Announcements
 First paper is on the question:
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“Which is a more compelling theory of
International Politics, Realism or Liberalism?”
There will be some additional reading on the
website, you will have three weeks.
 No Class this Thursday (3/2) or next Thursday (3/9)
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Watch the two remaining parts of “Commanding
Heights”, episodes 2 and 3
Paradigms in International
Politics
 Realism
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Balance of power theory
Human nature as basically hostile
 Liberalism
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Liberal institutionalism
Human nature as basically peaceful
Realism & International Politics
 There is less in the way of “politics” done at the
international than domestic level.
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Taxation, social programs, abortion, national
defense, etc… are all overwhelmingly decided
nationally.
 The “politics” of the international sphere have
been primarily limited to issues of war and trade.
International State of Nature
 International scene traditionally been considered a
“Hobbesian” world.
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State of nature leading to potential state of war.
 Who is Hobbes?
 What does it mean to say something is Hobbesian?
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War of all against all
Justice is imaginary without law
There is no law
Power rules the day
Realism in international relations
 Those who argue that the international world is
“Hobbesian” in the sense that we have studied it here are
called “realists”.
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Realists argue that the international world is anarchic.
 There is no world government to govern affairs between
states and to enforce justice
States are self-interested
 Countries act to secure that which is in the national interest
Therefore power determines the relationship between
independent states.
 Is this true?
Thucydides
 Let us turn to Thucydides:
Historian, General, Athenian, Quote Machine
“Most people, in fact, will not take the trouble in finding
out the truth, but are much more inclined to accept the
first story they hear.”
“We Greeks believe that a man who takes no part in public
affairs is not merely lazy, but good for nothing”
“In a democracy . . . someone who fails to get elected to
office can always console himself with the thought that
there was something not quite fair about it.”
“History is philosophy teaching by example”
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Realism in History
 Peloponnesian War
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Athens v. Sparta
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Rivalry born of the fallout of the Persian war
Athenian Empire v. Peloponnesian alliance
 According to ancient historian Thucydides, war is
fundamentally about power and fear.
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“The growth of the power of Athens, and the
alarm which this inspired in Sparta, made war
inevitable.” - Thucydides
The Peloponnesian War
Peloponnesian War
Melos
 Melians were of the same ethnic group as the
Spartans (Dorians), they chose to remain neutral
in the war.
 Athens invaded Melos in 416 BC in the middle of
the Peloponnesian War, demanded the Melians
surrender and pay tribute to Athens, or face
annihilation.
 The “Melian Dialogue” is an account of the
diplomatic confrontation to discuss this.
The Melian Dialogue
Athenian: "For ourselves, we shall not trouble you with
specious pretenses—either of how we have a right to our
empire because we overthrew the Persian, or are now
attacking you because of wrong that you have done us—and
make a long speech which would not be believed; and in
return we hope that you, instead of thinking to influence us
by saying that you did not join the Spartans, although their
colonists, or that you have done us no wrong, will aim at
what is feasible, holding in view the real sentiments of us
both; since you know as well as we do that right, as the
world goes, is only in question between equals in power,
while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what
they must."
The Melian Dialogue
Melians: "You may be sure that we are as well aware
as you of the difficulty of contending against your
power and fortune, unless the terms be equal. But
we trust that the gods may grant us fortune as good
as yours, since we are just men fighting against
unjust, and that what we want in power will be
made up by the alliance of the Spartans, who are
bound, if only for very shame, to come to the aid of
their kindred. Our confidence, therefore, after all is
not so utterly irrational."
The Melian Dialogue
 Athenian: "Of the gods we believe, and of men we
know, that by a necessary law of their nature they
rule wherever they can. And it is not as if we were
the first to make this law, or to act upon it when
made: we found it existing before us, and shall
leave it to exist forever after us; all we do is to make
use of it, knowing that you and everybody else,
having the same power as we have, would do the
same as we do"
The Melian Dialogue
 Athenians urge the Melians to surrender or be destroyed.
 Melians argue that right and justice are on their side, and
they therefore choose not to surrender.
 Athenians lay siege to Melos, take it, kill all the men, and
sell the women and children into slavery.
 “So far as right and wrong are concerned…there is no
difference between the two.” –Thucydides
 According to realists, claims of justice are irrelevant in the
international sphere. It is power that determines the
relationship between states. “The powerful do what they
can, and the weak suffer what they must.”
Central Assumptions
 International politics is anarchic
Without law, predisposed toward conflict
 States are the central actors
 Think of the Treaty of Westphalia
 States control domestic affairs, i.e. corporations,
NGOs, religions, citizens, etc…
 States are unitary actors
 They have coherent interests
 States are “rational”
 They calculate costs/benefits and seek national interest
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Security Dilemma/Prisoner’s
Dilemma
Collective Action Problems
 If realism is correct, we would expect some
collective action problems.
 Collective Action Problems
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Prisoner’s Dilemma – Arms Race
Common Pool Resources – Global Warming
Concentrated benefits and diffuse costs – Failure
of League of Nations
Variants of Realism
 Balance of Power Theory
World likely to move towards distribution of power among
powerful states
 Weaker states fear powerful, gang up to balance
 USA vs. China vs. Russia vs. EU vs. Japan
 Hegemonic Stability Theory
 Stability achieved through dominance of hegemon
 Pax Romana, Pax Britannica, Pax Americana
 Predicts that when hegemons lose power, revolutionary
powers cause trouble because they do not accept the status
quo.
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War ahead…???