Realism (international relations)

Realism is a family of theories that explains international politics through states’ pursuit of power and security in an anarchic system. It emphasizes competition, limited trust, and the constraints imposed by power.

Anarchy (international relations): The absence of a central authority capable of enforcing rules among states. Without a world government, states must provide for their own security.
Balance of power (international relations): A condition or policy in which power is distributed so that no state can dominate others. Balancing is a central account of how states respond to threats and concentrated power.
Liberalism (international relations): A family of theories emphasizing institutions, interdependence, domestic politics, and possibilities for international cooperation. Liberalism gives cooperation and institutions greater explanatory weight than realism does.
Thucydides: An ancient Greek historian whose account of the Peloponnesian War examines power, fear, and political choice. His history supplies a classic account of how shifts in power can generate conflict.
Peloponnesian War: A war between Athens and Sparta and their allies from 431 to 404 BCE. Thucydides’ account of the conflict is a classic case for realist analysis of fear and power shifts.
State (polity): A political organization exercising authority over a territory and its population. Realist theories treat states as the principal actors in international politics.
Deterrence theory: The strategy of preventing an action by convincing an opponent its costs will exceed its benefits. Realists use deterrence to explain how threats can prevent attacks without war.
Constructivism (international relations): An approach arguing that shared ideas and identities shape international actors and their interests. Constructivism challenges the realist tendency to treat interests and competition as structurally given.
Hans Morgenthau: A twentieth-century scholar who developed a prominent classical realist theory of international politics. Morgenthau grounded political analysis in interest understood through power.
Cold War: The prolonged geopolitical rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II. Its bipolar competition and deterrence strategies offer a major test case for structural realism.

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