Offensive and Defensive Realism

A brief introduction to the offensive and defensive realist approaches to international relations.

[moustafashahin]

You are great Professor, you are simplifying the complicated theories. Perfect

[fjordhellas]

What a great professor you are! The quality of your lecture is excellent. Thank you!

[janetjuarez]

This was a good one. It was precise and really helpful, it is a key explanation. Thank you so much for making and uploading this video.

[mesutklc]

Thank you very much. It is a brief, but at the same time to the point, explanation and quite helpful. Could you please add Neoclassical realism to your playlist?

[pezeron]

How much does individual psychology influence the political theories of the defensive and offensive realists? It would be interesting to study the psychological profiles of the proponents of both theories. What if we discovered that offensive realists are people with the propensity to be overly aggressive and competitive? What is defensive realists came up as more cautious and introverted? Just a thought.

[stanislavstoimenov]

I'm with the offensive wing. After all, offence is by far the best defense.

[xenofongrigoriadis]

Great explanation. So, when comparing the two, I assume, that can find case studies for both in history. Then what determines the way one actor will follow, the defensive or the offensive one? Since both have to do with expecations of human behavior, is this not an anthropological matter? Does history play a role?
China for example sought security in the past, famously, by building a wall. Do such historical and cultural experiences of nations not influence, reactions to perceived threats?

[MikEm-jgwz]

Thanks the explanation is good and the point.

[VALRable]

Thank you for explaining these two concepts. I am wondering if you already have a video that explains the theory of power credibility. What is power credibility?

[iramsaleem]

It's awesome. Loved the content and great explanation! Thank you for sharing. Keep up the good work.

[riezan]

Thank you, Prof.
Do you mind if I ask, is China's Belt and Road Initiative considered offensive or defensive? if we had to use neorealism. Considering all aspects within it, such as providing alternative development funds (which has been accused of debt-trap diplomacy or predatory lending) for poor/developing nations and also Bejing's effort to gain more geopolitical leverage/influence for China.

[sayoshinakamario]

What approach would you suggest in the corporate world? I’m thinking classic realism?

[d_w_]

I am not sure if you have done a video on Institutionalism yet, therefore I will ask it here:

Considering that Institutionalism is based on the assumption that reliance between states creates a dependency which makes war impossible or at least unlikely, do you think that the Russo-Ukrainian war is proving that Institutionalism isn’t working on the global stage?

I think Germany or many other countries in Europe are a good example here:

Creating a dependency on oil/gas imports of Russia based on the assumption that everything will be fine, seems pretty naive in the retrospective, but if one assumes that Germany acted after institutionalist behavior it kinda proves that it isn’t working in my opinion. Still I don’t know enough about this topic to formulate a final conclusion.

What do you think about this ?

kind regards

[jannickharambe]

Why is it called defensive realism when it is part of the neorealist theory?