Structural Realism - International Relations (1/7)
Summary
TLDRThe speaker, a structural realist, argues that the anarchic nature of the international system compels states to pursue power for security. States, especially China, aim for regional dominance to avoid vulnerability. The U.S. and other nations resist such hegemony, leading to intense security competition. Despite China's economic rise, the speaker predicts non-peaceful ascendancy based on realist theory.
Takeaways
- 🏛️ Structural Realism: The speaker believes that the structure and architecture of the international system largely explain state behavior, rather than domestic politics or the composition of individual states.
- 🌐 Anarchic System: States exist in an anarchic international system with no higher authority to turn to if they encounter trouble, driving them to pursue power for survival.
- 💪 Power and Security: To avoid vulnerability in the anarchic system, states strive to be as powerful as possible to ensure their security and dominance.
- 🇺🇸 Example of the USA: The United States dominates the Western Hemisphere and faces no significant threats from its neighbors, showcasing the ideal powerful state scenario.
- 🔍 Realism Theories: Realism is divided into human nature realism, which attributes conflict to human nature, and structural realism, which attributes it to the international system's structure.
- 👥 Human Nature Realists: These theorists, like Hans Morgenthau, believe that humans are hardwired to pursue power, leading to international conflict.
- 🏗️ Structural Realists: These theorists, like the speaker and Ken Waltz, believe that the lack of a higher authority and uncertainty about other states' intentions drive states to engage in security competition.
- 🎯 Parsimonious Theory: Realism provides simple explanations for major international events, focusing on a few key factors to explain complex phenomena like World Wars.
- 🐉 China's Rise: The speaker believes that as China grows economically, it will seek to translate that power into military dominance in Asia, similar to the US in the Western Hemisphere.
- 🛡️ US-China Competition: The United States and China's neighbors will likely work to contain China's rise and prevent it from dominating Asia, leading to intense security competition.
Q & A
What is the core belief of a structural realist?
-A structural realist believes that the structure and architecture of the international system largely explain how states behave, rather than domestic politics or the composition of individual states.
Why do states in an anarchic system pursue power according to the speaker?
-States pursue power in an anarchic system to ensure their survival and security, as there is no higher authority to turn to for help, and they can never be certain about the intentions of other states.
What is the difference between human nature realism and structural realism?
-Human nature realism attributes aggressive behavior to inherent human traits, like Morgenthau's 'animus dominandi', while structural realism, as the speaker explains, attributes it to the lack of a higher authority and the uncertainty of other states' intentions in the international system.
Why does the speaker believe that the United States does not fear attacks from its neighbors?
-The speaker believes the United States does not fear attacks due to its overwhelming power in the Western hemisphere, which deters any potential adversaries.
What does the speaker suggest is the ideal situation for a state in the international system?
-The ideal situation for any state, according to the speaker, is to be as powerful as possible to avoid vulnerability and ensure survival in an anarchic system.
How does the speaker describe the theory of realism?
-The speaker describes realism as a parsimonious and simple theory that provides straightforward explanations for significant events in international politics, particularly related to war and peace.
What does the speaker predict about China's rise and its implications for Asia?
-The speaker predicts that China's economic rise will translate into military might and that China will attempt to dominate Asia, much like the United States dominates the Western hemisphere.
What is the United States' likely response to China's attempt to dominate Asia according to the speaker?
-The speaker suggests that the United States will go to great lengths to prevent China from dominating Asia, as it does not tolerate peer competitors.
Why would China's neighbors join the United States in containing China's dominance in Asia?
-China's neighbors would join the United States to contain China because they would not want a powerful, potentially hegemonic neighbor and would prefer to maintain a balance of power in the region.
What is the speaker's view on whether China can rise peacefully?
-The speaker's view, based on his theory of structural realism, is that China cannot rise peacefully due to the inherent competitive nature of the international system and the pursuit of power by states.
Outlines
🌐 Structural Realism and International Anarchy
The speaker identifies as a structural realist, emphasizing the impact of the international system's structure on state behavior. They argue that the anarchic nature of the system, lacking a higher authority, compels states to pursue power to ensure their security. The unpredictability of other states' intentions and the absence of a protective overseer make power accumulation a state's top priority. The United States is cited as an example of a powerful state that enjoys security due to its dominance in the Western hemisphere. The speaker distinguishes between human nature realism, which attributes conflict to inherent human traits, and structural realism, which views the system's architecture as the cause of aggressive state behavior.
📚 Theoretical Perspectives on International Politics
This paragraph delves into the core questions of international politics, which the speaker believes revolve around war and peace. Realism, particularly structural realism, is praised for its simplicity and ability to provide straightforward explanations for significant events like World Wars. The speaker asserts that the most important theories should address major issues and be parsimonious, using minimal factors to explain complex phenomena. The potential rise of China and its implications for regional dominance is discussed, with the prediction that China will seek to translate economic strength into military power and establish hegemony in Asia. The United States and China's neighbors are expected to resist this dominance, leading to intense security competition, reflecting the structural realist view that great powers will always strive for regional supremacy.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Structural Realism
💡Anarchic System
💡Power
💡Security Competition
💡Hegemon
💡Human Nature Realism
💡Parsimonious Theory
💡Vulnerability
💡Containment
💡Night Watchman
💡Peer Competitor
Highlights
Structural realism posits that the structure and architecture of the international system largely determine state behavior.
Domestic politics and the internal composition of states have minimal influence on their international behavior.
Anarchy in the international system compels states to seek power to ensure security against potential threats.
States aim for regional dominance to mitigate vulnerability in the absence of a higher authority.
The United States exemplifies a powerful state with no fear of attack due to its dominance in the Western hemisphere.
Realism differentiates between human nature realism and structural realism in explaining state behavior.
Human nature realists attribute conflict to an innate desire for power, while structural realists focus on the system's lack of authority.
Realism offers parsimonious theories that provide simple explanations for significant events like World Wars.
The primary concern of realism is to address the fundamental questions of war and peace.
China's economic rise is expected to translate into military power and a pursuit of regional hegemony in Asia.
The United States is unlikely to tolerate a peer competitor dominating Asia and will act to prevent it.
China's neighbors will likely join the U.S. in an effort to contain China's dominance in Asia.
The speaker predicts an intense security competition between China and the U.S., along with China's neighbors.
The speaker questions the possibility of China's peaceful rise based on the principles of realism.
The importance of theory in predicting future events in international politics is emphasized.
Realism's ability to provide insights into major events makes it an attractive and relevant theory.
Transcripts
Basically, what I am is a structural realist. I'm a person who believes that it's the structure
of the international system, it's the architecture
of the international system, that explains in large
part how states behave. Another way to say that is, I do not believe that domestic politics,
I do not believe that the composition or the make-up
of individual states matters very much for how those states behave on a day-to-day basis, in international politics.
And to be a bit more specific about this,
I believe the fact that states live in what we call an
anarchic system - that's a system where there's no higher authority that those states can
turn to if they get into trouble - that fact, coupled
with the fact that states can never be certain that
they won't end up living next door to a really powerful state that has malign intentions,
All of that causes states to do everything they can
to be as powerful as possible. And again, the
reason that you want to be very powerful, that you want to pursue power, that you want
to dominate your region of the world, is because
in that situation, there is no other state that is
capable of hurting you. If you're small and you're weak in the international
system, that means you're vulnerable. If you don't have a lot of power, what happens
is that the big, the powerful state is in a position
where they can take advantage of you. And again, because the system is anarchic, because
there's no higher authority that sits above states, there's nobody that you can turn to.
There's no night watchman that you can call on the
telephone to come and help you. So you're in a
very vulnerable situation, and the way to avoid that is to be very powerful.
And to give you a good example that really highlights this, think about the United States
of America in the Western hemisphere.
The United States is by far the most powerful country in
the Western hemisphere. It has the Canadians on its northern border. It has the Mexicans
on its southern border. It has fish on its eastern
border and fish on its western border. No American ever goes to bed at night worrying
about another country attacking it, and the reason is because the United States is so
powerful. So the ideal situation for any state in the
international system, is to be as powerful as possible.
Because that's the best way to survive in a system where there's no higher authority,
no night watchman, and where you can never be certain
that you won't end up living next door to another country that has malign intentions
and a lot of military power. In the world of realism, there are basically
two sets of theories. What one might call the
human nature realist theories and the structural realist theories. The human nature realists
and Hans Morgenthau, of course, would be the most
prominent example of this school of thought,
believe that human beings are hardwired with what Morgenthau called an animus dominandi.
To put this is slightly different terms, Morgenthau was saying that all human beings are born
with a Type A personality, and when they get into power, what they want to do is pursue
power as an end in itself. So in that story, it's human nature, it's the way human beings
are born that causes all this conflict in the
international system. That's a very different way of thinking about
the world than the structural realist argument. Structural realists like me and like Ken Waltz
believe that it is the structure of the international system, it is the architecture of the system,
not human nature, that causes states to behave aggressively. That's what causes states to
engage in security competition. It's the fact that
there's no higher authority above states, and that states can never be certain that
another state won't come after them militarily somewhere
down the road that drives these states to engage in security competition.
So although both realist schools of thought lead to the same form of behaviour, which
is a rather aggressive kind of competition, the
root causes are different in the two stories.
Again, on one side, you have the human nature realists who focus on the way human beings are
hardwired, and on the other side, you have the structural realists, who focus on the
basic way that the system is organised
My view is that the most important questions in international politics are what a theory
should be concerned with, and there are really only
a few big questions out there that matter. And
these questions largely involve war and peace. And I think one of the great advantages of
realism is that it has a lot to say. It doesn't provide perfect answers, but it has a lot
to say about the big questions in international politics.
And one of the attractions of realism is that it is a parsimonious theory, which is a
sophisticated way of saying it's a simple theory. Realism is easy to understand. A handful
of factors are said to describe why the world,
or to explain why the world works in particular ways, why you get these very important events
like World War I and World War II. And I think that that's the most important thing that
a theory can do, is to provide simple explanations for
very important events. This is not to say that we shouldn't have
theories that explain minor actions or minor considerations or peripheral situations in
the international system. But the most important theories, by definition, are going to be those
theories that deal with the big questions. And the
theories that are going to matter the most - and I believe this is why structural realism
matters so much - are those theories that are nice
and simple, that are parsimonious. I believe that if China continues to rise
economically, that it will translate that economic might
into military might, and that it will try to dominate Asia the way the United States
dominates the Western hemisphere. I think that China,
for good realist reasons, will try to become a
hegemon in Asia, because I believe the Chinese understand now and will certainly
understand in the future that the best way to survive in the international system is
to be really powerful.
The Chinese understand full well what happened to them between 1850 and 1950 when they
were very weak. They understand what the European great powers, the United States and
the Japanese did to them, and they want to make sure in the future that they're going
to be very powerful. So I think they'll try to dominate
Asia. The United States, on the other hand, does
not tolerate what we sometimes call peer competitors. The United States does not want
China to dominate Asia, and the United States will go to enormous lengths to prevent China
from dominating Asia. And of course China's neighbours. This includes Japan, South Korea,
Singapore, Vietnam, India and Russia - will not want China to dominate Asia. So they will
join with the United States to try to contain China much the way our European and Asian
allies joined together with us during the Cold War
to contain the Soviet Union. The same thing, I believe, will happen with China.
So you will have this intense security competition between China, which is trying to dominate
Asia, and the United States and China's neighbours, which are trying to prevent China from
dominating Asia. So with regard to this question that lots of people are talking about today,
can China rise peacefully? My answer is no, and my answer is based on my theory, because
there's no way you can predict the future without a theory.
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