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POL1032: required readingClassical realism: introduction
Classical realism represents an approach to international relations that harks back to fifth
century Greek historian Thucydides and his account of the Peloponnesian War. It recognises
the central role of power in politics of all kinds, but also the limitations of power and the
ways in which it can be readily be made self-defeating. It stresses sensitivity to ethical
dilemmas and their practical implications and the need to base the influence, wherever
possible, on shared interests and persuasion.
Classical realists have holistic understandings of politics that stress the similarities, not the
differences, between domestic and international politics and the role of ethics and
community in promoting order in both domains. They recognise that communal bonds are
fragile and easily undermined by the unrestrained pursuit of unilateral advantage by
individuals, factions and states. When this happens, time-honoured mechanisms of conflict
management like alliances and the balance of power may not only fail to preserve the peace
but may make domestic and international violence more likely. Classical realists tend to
regard history as cyclical, in the sense that efforts to build order and escape from fear-
driven worlds, while they may succeed for a considerable period of time, ultimately
succumb to the destabilizing effects of actors who believe they are too powerful to be
constrained by law and custom.
The importance of community for classical realists directs our attention to the ever-present
tensions between the interests of the community and those of its members, whether
individuals or states. The principles of justice on which all viable communities are based also
allow the efficient translation of power into influence. Membership in a community imposes
limits on the ends and means of power and failure to subordinate goals to the requirements
of justice leads to self-defeating policies, especially those of overexpansion. Classical realists
understand that great powers are often their own worst enemies because success and
hubris encourages actors to see them outside of and above their community and this, in
turn, blinds them to the need for self-restraint.
Classical realists see political systems in terms of their principles of order and the way in
which they help to shape their identities of actors and this discourse they use to frame their
interests. They put more weight on values and ideas than they do power.
Classical realism on order and stability
Community, order and stability:
Most classical realists have an answer to the problem of order in effective central authority.
Governments that defend borders, enforce laws and protect citizens makes domestic
politics more peaceful and qualitatively different from international politics. The
international arena remains a self-help system and survival of the state depends on a state’s
material capabilities and its alliances with other states. For classical realists, all politics is an
expression of human drives and subject to the same pathologies. They see more variation in
order and stability within domestic and international systems than they do between them,
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