ent of conflicts (Morganthau, 1993, p. 3).
We might equally well--and with all seriousness--call it the game approach. "Game," because war was once regarded as the great game of kings, and (more immediate to our discussion) because one can capture a fairly good sense of the character of the realist approach by playing board games such as "Risk" and "Diplomacy."
In games of this sort, intended for multiple players, each participant takes on the role of a more-or-less major power, and the goal of each is roughly to conquer the world of the game by becoming the dominant, if not only, remaining power. The successful strategy in these games lies in making an artful choice of allies and of enemies, in knowing when to shift among them, and in striking the proper balance between the sort of reckless aggressiveness on the one hand that will unite all other players against you, and a course of excessive caution on the other hand that will lead to being eventually swallowed up and ejected from the game by bolder players.
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