Ned Lebow : KCL – Lecture 20: Realism

Central to this paradigm is the belief that the international arena is anarchical, that states must make survival their first priority, and must accumulate power toward this end.

All realists buy into these assumptions to varying degrees. Many, if not most, believe that IR is unchanging, although the degree of conflict and violence may vary as a function of the balance of power. There are major disagreements about appropriate levels of analysis, the degree to which polarity or the balance of power is an objective or subjective feature of the environment, and the role of ethics and domestic policy. Realists can be found in both the positivist and interpretivist traditions. The former frame their enterprise as a science and the latter are more concerned with phronesis. I offer a critique of realism in my lectures on classical realism, power vs. influence, and hegemony.