Realism in International Politics
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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
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at of military power. Military security therefore becomes a principle consideration in all policy matters. However, exercis-ing "power" does not always mean using military power. A nation has a wide range of power resources at its disposal. These include diplomatic power, political power, and economic power. The ultimate objective in exercising power it to use power in a way that influences or controls outcomes. In many cases, economic or diplomatic power may be enough to determine the outcome. In some cases, military power may be the only option, but more frequently it can be held as a trump card, a threat to be used only if all other forms of power fail.
Even under the realist approach, when military power is con-templated the "cost" of taking such action must be weighed care-fully. There are economic, diplomatic and political consequences to using military force, and the equation must balance in the favor of the actor before the decision can be considered rational.
The emphasis on realism in policy matters led to some pro-nounced shifts in U.S. foreign policy following the Second World War, as opposed to the policies of the inter-war period. National security and national interest took on a greater importance. The
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Approximate Word count = 1775
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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