POSC240 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Statism, Thomas Hobbes, Security Dilemma
30 Aug 2016
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3 tenets of realism: statism, self-help, survival. Statism: preference for inter-state system and levels of analysis, won"t talk about domestic politics, relationship between states or what affects all states, states defined by sovereignty (country in control of own decisions) Unitary actor assumption: sovereign state=single entity: state represents will of the people (fundamental assumption) Small states or global south not interested in realism. American driven theory: wanted to treat study of gp as a science. Tradeoff: easy is not meant to go into complexities or finite details. No need to study ios bc they only reflect the structure or extension of the great powers. Survival: all states primarily concerned with survival; it is a precondition for other state goals, gloomy understanding of human nature. There is such thing as bad and evil: conflict is the natural state of the world, so war is inevitable > continual drive for power, national security is the priority.
