Realism （ 1 ）

Shunji CuiDepartment of Political Science

School of Public AffairsZhejiang University

Email: ssjcui@zju.edu.cn

IPT, L3:

Contents:

1. Realism & Its Critiques to Idealism

2. Realist TraditionThucydidesMachiavelliHobbes

Realist Critiques ：

E. H. Carr: The Twenty Years’ Crisis (1939)

Hans Morgenthau: Politics Among Nations (1948)

Main Focus 批判的焦点：1. View of The World

Aught to be v. As it is ( 应该是 v. 是 )

2. View of National Interests Harmony v. Conflict ( 利益的和谐 v. 冲突本质 )

3. View of Power & Ethics The role of ethics v. the role of power ( 道德 v.

权力的重要性 )

4. View of History Progress v. Repetitive ( 历史的进步 v. 重复性 )

(1) View of The World

Aught to be / 希望 / 理想中应该是？？？

As it is 现实是？？？

(2) View of National Interests

liberal IR thinkers: ir could be based on a harmony of interest between countries and people.

Carr: there are profound conflicts of interest between countries and between people.

Some people and some countries are better off than others. They will attempt to preserve and defend their privileged position.

The underdogs, the ‘have-nots’, will struggle to change that situation

ir = struggle between such conflicting interests 乌托邦：普世利益 = 国家利益 , great powers to impose order

on the ISy, pretending that their own values are universal ones.

(3) View of Ethics & Power

人性恶论 Human Nature ( 摩根索 Morgenthau)人的本性直接影响国际关系 Humans were self-interested and power-seeking and that could easily result in aggression, eg: Hitler’s G and Mussolini’s Italy pursued blatantly aggressive FPs aimed at conflict, not cooperation.

The Nature of International Politics (IP)‘IP, like all politics, is a struggle for power. Whatever the ultimate aims of IP, power is always the immediate aim’ (Morgenthau 1948).== Power Politics

(3) View of Ethics & Power

International System = anarchy No world government but a system of

sovereign and armed states facing each other. Implications:

卡尔 Carr : 在近于无政府状态的国际社会中，普世道德是很难界定的，国家职能在道德与权力之间寻求平衡 . In an anarchical International society, it is difficult to identify ethics, and states must seek balance between ethics and power.

（ 4 ） View of History

liberals: qualitative change for the better

Realists: continuity and repetition, Why?Each new generation – makes the same

mistake As long as sovereign states are the dominant

form of political organization, power politics will continue and states will have to look after their security and prepare for war.

Where Realist Thinking Comes From??

ThucydidesMachiavelliHobbes

Thucydides (471-400 BC)

21-28 years of war between Athens & Sparta in 5c BC.

History of the Peloponnesian War

Thucydides: The first writer in the realist tradition & the founding father of the IR Discipline?

古希腊地图

Thucydides & the Peloponnesian War Thucydides: a member of one of the more

notable Athenian families In 424BC (the 8th year of the War), elected as a general Failed to prevent the Spartans capture of a city Being punished with 20-ys of exile.

History of the Peloponnesian War Spent rest of the war observing events, travelling, and

interviewing participants. As an exile (detached from), yet (obsessed with)

politics. Though concerned with accuracy, gave precedence to

understanding the motives and policies of the leaders on all sides.

The Peloponnesian War (TPW) Can be Taken simply as history book

Tales of heroism and brutality, victory and defeat, brilliance and stupidity, honor and deceit.

These human traits are exhibited not only in one particular war, but in all wars throughout the ages.

The Tasks & Purpose: much more ambitious than simply describing what was occurring.

The past == the guide for the future Less interested in the immediate cause of the

Peloponnesian War, than was the underlying forces at work drew historical lessons for future statesmen.

At the heart, TPW == the study of the struggle for military and political power.

“I propose first to give an account of the causes of complaint which they had against each other and of the specific instances where their interests classed [== i.e. the immediate causes of the war]: this is in order that there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind about what led to this great war falling upon the Hellenes.

But the real reason for the war is, in my opinion, most likely to be disguised by such argument. What made war inevitable was the growth of Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta [== i.e. this was the underlying cause of the war].”

History of the Peloponnesian War

要点 : Fear & the Cause of Fear

1. Fear ： Thus, the real and underlying cause of the war was fear associated with a shift in the BOP.Sparta: fear of losing its preeminent role in the

Hellenic world took countermeasures – build up its military strength, support of allies.

Athens responded in kind (security dilemma)今天 == familiar notions of arms races,

deterrence, BOP, alliances, diplomacy, strategy, concerns for honor, perceptions of strength and weakness.

2. The Cause of Fear ： Not so much innate or basic human nature as it

is the nature of interstate politics === anarchy In a world == where no superordinate or central

authority Whether ancient city-states, modern states

encompassing large expanses of territory “the strong do what they have the power to do and

the weak accept what they have to accept”. The Melian dialogue

总之： Fear == may lead to war Power/ relative capabilities ==

determine the outcome

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) Italian political philosopher The situation in 16c Italy, divided as the peninsula

was into separate city states ≈ to the Hellenic world of Thucydides.

Worked as a civil servant and diplomat until the Republic of Florence fell in 1512.

The Prince – to the ruler of Florence, Lorenzo di Medici. Wrote of power, BOP, formation of alliances and

counter alliances, and the cause of conflict between different city-states.

However, the primary focus national security

The Prince & National Security Realpolitik = a German term, refers to

power and power politics among states (central to realist thought).

1. Security & Power: Survival of the state (identified with the ruling

prince) was paramount. The Prince == a principal manual on how to

gain, maintain, and expand power.

2. Security & Ethic: The security of the state is so important that it may

justify certain acts by the prince that would be forbidden to other individuals not burdened by the princely responsibility of assuring that security.

The end == security of the state == is understood to justify any means necessary to achieve that end.

Two distinct ethics:1. Conventional religious morality concerned with such matters as

individual salvation – the ethics of ultimate ends.

2. The moral obligations of rulers who must take actions to provide for national security – the ethics of responsibility (political ethics)

It follows that, rulers should be good if they can (good in the conventional sense), but be willing to practice evil if necessary (consistent with their obligations as rulers).

3. Security and the world The world as it is, not the world as it should or

aught to be. Ethics and politics are divorced from each other His advice to the prince, was based on an analysis

of history and of what actually occurs in the political realm, not on abstract ethical principles.

评价： Machiavelism ???

Rulers to use violence for its own sake? No!

How a particular policy contributes to the security and stability of the state == yardstick

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) The English Civil War (1642–1651) Leviathan (1651)

The first general theory of politics in English.

Pessimistic view of human naturePrimary focus – domestic politicsGoal – make the strongest case for

the necessity of a powerful, centralized political authority.

How? == thought experiment: a ‘state of nature’ civil society

Leviathan

A ‘state of nature’ == thought experiment Posited that prior to the creation of society == human

beings lived in a ‘state of nature’ == a condition of war of ‘everyone against everyone’ – a continual fear and danger of violent death.

Why this situation?? How people could escape from this

situation??

Why this situation?? Human nature: Hobbes has pessimistic view

about human nature, that man by nature is unsocial, does not seek the good.

Natural equality: His assumption of a natural equality in men means that oven the weakest can kill the strongest. No man is sufficiently powerful enough in a natural state to feel security. 自然使人在身心两方面的能力都十分相等 .

Natural Right: In a state of nature everyone has the right to preserve his own life – natural right –, there are no moral limits on what a man can do to protect himself.

How people could escape from this situation? By agreeing to place all power in the hands of a

sovereign or Leviathan (a state authority, or supreme ruler) that would maintain order and end the anarchy of the state of nature. == (social contract) == that lead (anarchy order). If government authority did not already exist, it would

have to be created. “there must be some coercive power to compel men

equally to the performance of the covenants, by the terror of some punishment, greater than the benefit they expect by the breach of their covenant”.

Without order, civilization and all its benefits are impossible – no economic development, art, knowledge, or anything else of value.

Implications for IR Today Hobbes’s impact on realism == from this image of

individuals in a mythical state of nature Which is equally applicable to relations among

statesBecause in the state of nature = in IP, there is

no Leviathan or superordinate power to impose order.

It is a condition of anarchy – the absence of central or superordinate authority over states that claim individually to be sovereign with a right to be independent or autonomous with respect to one another.

As anarchy prevails in the state of nature, so too is anarchy a dominant characteristic of international politics.

Without a Leviathan (a hegemonic power, or world state), suspicion, distrust, conflict, and war are seemingly inevitable.

In the absence of any social contract among (or authority over) them, there are no moral obligations to govern the relations of states.

Thank You !!!