Political Realism

Political Realism Created by Mike Lauletta, May 1996, POSC 474

Realism is an approach to the study and practice of international politics. It emphasizes the role of the nation-state and makes a broad assumption that all nation-states are motivated by national interest diguised as moral concerns.

At it's most fundamental level, the national interest is a generic and easy to define; all states seek to preserve their political autonomy and their territorial integrity. Once these two interests have been secured, however, national interests may take different forms. Some states may have an interest in securing more resources or land; other states may wish to expand their own political or economic systems into other areas; some states may merely wish to be left alone.

Generally speaking, however, the national interest must be defined in terms of power. National power has an absolute meaning since it can be defined in terms of military, economic, political, diplomatic, or cultural resources.

This emphasis on relative, and not absolute power, derives from the realist conception of the international system, which is, for the realist, an anarchical environment. All states have to rely upon thier own resources to secure their interests, self-help, to enforce whatever agreements they may have entered into with others states, or to maintain desirable domestic and international order. There is no authority over the nation-state, nor, for the realist, should there be. .

The implications of this refusal to recognize greater authority are important to recognize. The political realist fears centralized authority, unless that authority is derived form the power of his or her own state. The decentralization of the international system permits greater diversity than would be the case with an empire Since, however, the natural tendency of states is to increase their power, the preservation of a decentralized system must be purchased with force.

The use of force to preserve the decentralized system is regulated by a system called the balance of power. Such a system works only if the major powers agree, at least tacitly, that the preservation of state autonomy is an important objective. If the major powers agree, wars will still occur within they system, but those wars will be constrained by the limimited objectives of each major state. If one major power does not agree with the limited objectives, then wars wil be much larger an more open-ended.