Neo-realism, Neo-liberalism.

Realism
• Focus Power relationships between states
• Main points
• Statism – states are the only important actors
(sovereignty is important)
• Survival – the world is anarchic (no institution is more
powerful than states) and dangerous, so states must
pursue self-interest in order to survive (as survival is
their priority)
• Self-help – in the dangerous world, states cannot count
on others to guarantee their survival
 Realism
• Main variants
• Classical realism:
• Structural realism or Neo-realism
• Defensive realism
• Offensive realism
 Realism
• Main variants
• Classical realism:
• EH Carr (1939) The Twenty Years’ Crisis – a
fierce attack on early liberalism
• Hans Morgenthau (1948) Politics Among
Nations – the first true work on realism –
human nature causes states to pursue self-
interest
 Realism
• Main variants
• Structural realism or neo-realism
• Kenneth Waltz (1979) Theory of International
Politics – states pursue self- interest because of
‘structures of international politics’ (that is,
anarchy), not human nature;
 Realism
• Main variants
• Defensive realism– states seek to maximise
security John Mearsheimer (2002) Tragedy of
Great Power Politics –
• Offensive realism’– states should maximise
their power rather than just survive
 Neo-realism
• Neorealism – or structural realism – is the
bedrock theory of International Relations.
• Starting from a simple set of assumptions, it
seeks to explain how states, in particular the
most powerful ones, behave, and how they
interact with each other on the international
arena.
 Neo-realism
• It is a theory of international politics. The theory is
usually associated with Kenneth Waltz (1924–2013)
and his 1979 book bearing the obvious name ‘Theory
of International Politics’.
• Neorealism is often called “structural realism,” which
signifies that the theory primarily centers on the effects
of the structure of the international system when it
seeks to explain outcomes in international politics.
• In Waltz’s conception of structure, two things are
especially noteworthy about the international system.
 Principles
• Firstly, the international system’s ordering principle is
anarchy.
• This simply means that there is no such thing as a
world government; there is no higher authority above
the main units that exist in the system – the states.
• Furthermore, this results in an international system that
is essentially a self-help system consisting of states that
are autonomous, functionally undifferentiated actors
each of which must always be prepared to fend for
itself.
 Principles
• The second defining principle of the structure of
international politics is the distribution of capabilities
across the units inhabiting the international system.
• Capabilities, or power, vary significantly between states;
states, though functionally undifferentiated, are
differentiated according to how much power they possess.
• Variations in power yield variations in the types and
magnitude of structural constraints that states face, thereby
effectuating variation in how states behave (or should
behave).
 Six Fundamental Neorealist Concepts

• The basic tenets of neo-realism enable the

systematic approach to studying shifts in state
behaviour.
• Six fundamental neorealist concepts are:
anarchy, structure, capability, the distribution
of power, polarity and national interest.
 Anarchy and Structure
• The first two concepts; ‘anarchy’ and
‘structure’; are intertwined.
• The ‘structure’ of the international system is
said to be ‘anarchic’.
• ‘Anarchy’ does not imply the presence of
chaos and disorder. It simply refers to the
absence of a world government.
 Anarchy and Structure
• With no overarching global authority that
provides security and stability in international
relations, world politics is not formally and
hierarchically organized .
• International politics is structured by ‘anarchy’,
in contrast to domestic politics that is structured
by ‘hierarchy’.
• The international system is thus defined in terms
of an anarchic international structure.
 Capability
• Capabilities are instrumental for states to ensure their
survival. The survival aim encourages relative gains.
• A neorealist assessment of the ‘capability’ of a state
is determined by five main criteria;
• its natural resource endowment,
• its demographic,
• economic,
• military and
• technological capacity.
 The Distribution of power
• In the competition for security, states will achieve
varying levels of capability.
• Thus, capabilities are distributed differently across the
constitutive units of the system.
• Such an assessment of the ‘distribution of capabilities’
constitutes the fourth concept of neorealism.
• Countries’ ranking depends on how they score on all
the aforementioned components of ‘relative
capability’.
 Polarity
• The ‘polarity’ of the international system is
determined by examining the ‘distribution of
capabilities’ across units, at any given time.
• This approach enables the distinct typification
of the nature of the international system.
• It is generally possible to distinguish between
three types of polarity; unipolarity, bipolarity
and multipolarity.
 National Interest
• National interest’ is an elusive concept. In
striving for security, states seek to expand their
capabilities vis-à-vis rival states.
• Thus ensuring territorial, economic and military
security constitutes the national interest calculus
of a state.
• At the same time, the level of capability a state
possesses vis-à-vis others, constrains or equips
states to pursue such interests.
 Liberalism
• Focus Wider relationships between a wider range of
actors
• Main points
• The world is not always dangerous or insecure
• Cooperation is possible and desirable
• States are not the only important actors – other
actors are also important
• Sovereignty is not everything
• States are interdependent
 Liberalism
• Main variants
• Liberal Internationalism
• Neo-liberalism or Liberalism Institutionalism
 Liberalism
• Main variants
• Liberal Internationalism –
• the set of theories emerging from Wilsonian
idealism;
• developed after the end of World War I;
• closely linked with belief in the League of Nations,
peace, law (‘law not war’), democracy;
• lost popularity after the failure of the League of
Nation.
 Liberalism
• Main variants
• Neoliberalism or Liberalism Institutionalism –
• a response to neo-realism;
• acknowledges the realist emphasis on the
central importance of states, but still stresses
the benefits of cooperation
 Neoliberalism
• In the study of international relations,
neoliberalism refers to a school of thought which
believes that states are, or at least should be,
concerned first and foremost with absolute gains
rather than relative gains to other states.
• Neoliberalism is a theory that holds that states
should try to achieve absolute gains rather than
trying to achieve gains relative to other countries.
 Neoliberalism
• Neoliberalism is a response to neorealism. 
• Neorealism emphasizes the idea that states
have no reason to cooperate with one another. 
• They exist in an anarchic world where states
must all compete with one another. 
• In such a world, the incentives tend to push
countries to compete with one another.
 Neoliberalism
• Neoliberalism, by contrast, holds that
interactions between countries can be win-win
situations. 
• They believe in the idea that the world can be
set up in such a way that cooperation will be
rewarded and countries can stop emphasizing
competition.
 Neoliberalism
• Neo-liberalism seeks to update liberalism by
accepting the neo-realist presumption that
states are the key actors in international
relations,
• But still maintains that non-state actors
(NSAs) and intergovernmental organizations
(IGOs) matter.
 Neoliberalism
• Its proponents argue that states will cooperate
irrespective of relative gains, and are thus
concerned with absolute gains.
• This also means that nations are, in essence,
free to make their own choices as to how they
will go about conducting policy without any
international organizations blocking a nation's
right to sovereignty.
 Neoliberalism
• Neo-liberalism also contains an economic theory that
is based on the use of open and free markets with
little, if any, government intervention to prevent
monopolies and other conglomerates from forming.
• The growing interdependence throughout and after
the Cold War through international institutions led to
neo-liberalism being defined as institutionalism, this
new part of the theory being fronted by Robert
Keohane and also Joseph Nye.