Humanity has been civilized for thousands of years, and yet the history of the human race is a story of continual struggle, of violence, of war. There was an international peace movement at the beginning of this century. New treaties were signed to resolve territorial disputes, the first International Court of Justice had been established at the Hague, and optimists envisioned a grand new world order. The industrial revolution was promising to pro-vide an abundance of material goods that no previous society had ever enjoyed, and perhaps never imagined. Perhaps it would be the first century of worldwide abundance, international justice, and peace between nations. Instead, the 20th century brought two world wars, acts of genocide, the first use of nuclear weapons, numerous armed revolutions, and many changes in global power structures.
Obviously, the optimists were too optimistic. But the events that unfolded were not merely disappointing realities, and they were certainly not inevitable. Grand mistakes in judgment and policy were made. Lessons of history were ignored.
There are many theories about international political rela-tions, and the pendulum of popularity often swings between the extremes. After World War I there was considerable debate between two opposing schools of thought, "realism" and "idealism," and idealism won the popularity contest.
Realism was based on a rather pessimistic view of human nature. It acknowledged the human capacity for evil and violence, and accepted as fact the idea that force and violence would not go away and could not be eliminated. Realism focused on the reality of power and the lessons of history. Its advocates recognized that power governed the relations between nation-states, and concluded that the attainment and exercise of power should be the primary purpose of political policies.
Idealism, also called "utopianism," embraced a different set of assumptions about human natu...