POL208Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Realpolitik, Offensive Realism, Status Quo Bias
Document Summary
The realist paradigm: not monolithic - there is more than just one realism, paradigm. Family of theories > share a common set of assumptions and propositions: there is a need to differentiate these different types. All realists share a common base foundation. Historical roots: developed in post ww2, but is often said to be of an older tradition of thought, thucydides (460 - 406 bc, machiavelli (1469 - 1527, hobbes (1588 - 1679) Important themes in their writings are present in contemporary writing. Human nature is driven by a desire for power, characterized by power politics. The state of nature is a state of war. If a states survival is threatened, it should form alliances with other states to persevere independence and check the power of the opposing side. A balance ensures that no state can dominate all others. Cold war competition between us and ussr (nato & warsaw pact) Concurred that international politics is a struggle for power.
