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    8 views4 pages

    Human Nature & Critical Perspective PDF

    Uploaded by

    AlejandraBohorquez

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    56 GLOBAL POLITICS HUMAN NATURE Realist view Human nature isthe starting point for much realist analysis, so much so that clasical realism has some- times been portrayed as biological realism Influenced by thinkers such as Hobbes and Machiavelli realists hhave embraced a theory of human nature that has ‘three main features. First, the essential core of human nature is fixed and given fashioned by ‘nature’ (biolog- ical or genetic factors) rather than by nurture’ (the influence of education or social factors generally) Second, instinct ultimately prevails over intellect. Human beings are driven by non-rational appetites: versions fears, hopes and desires, the strongest of which isthe deste to exercise power over others. Intellect and reason may guide us in pursuing these appetites, but they do not define them in the first place, Third, as human beings are essentially self- seeking and egoistca, conflict between and amongst them isan unavoidable fact of life. For classical realists, this human egoism determines state egoism, and creates an international sytem that is inevitably cha acterized by rivalry and the pursuit of the national interest, Hopes for international cooperation and even “perpetual peace’ are therefore a utopian delusion. However, assumptions about human nature are peripheral within neorealism, in which rivalry and conllct is explained in terms of the structure ofthe international system rather than the make-up of indi- Viduals and therefore of states. Liberal view Liberals have a broadly optimistic view of human nature. Humans are selfseekng and largely self-reliant ‘creatures; but they are also governed by reason and are

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