Realism and International Relations Jack Donnelly .36768B:DDC 53B697 B95B7 3B69727BCD/303DC75DDD:73B697B7 D7BC8C733373D:DDCCambridge 53B697 Books B95B7D7BC Online © :DDC6Cambridge B9 University ,1 Press, 2010 CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521592291 © Jack Donnelly 2000 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2000 Reprinted 2002 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Donnelly, Jack. Realism and international relations / Jack Donnelly. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0 521 59229 1 (hb) – ISBN 0 521 59752 8 (pb) 1. International relations. 2. Realism. I. Title. JZ1307.D66 2000 327.1´01 – dc21 99-053676 ISBN-13 978-0-521-59229-1 hardback ISBN-10 0-521-59229-1 hardback ISBN-13 978-0-521-59752-4 paperback ISBN-10 0-521-59752-8 paperback Transferred to digital printing 2006 .36768B:DDC 53B697 B95B7 3B69727BCD/303DC75DDD:73B697B7 D7BC8C733373D:DDCCambridge 53B697 Books B95B7D7BC Online © :DDC6Cambridge B9 University ,1 Press, 2010 Realism and International Relations provides a critical yet sympathetic survey of political realism in international theory. Using six paradig- matic theories – Hans Morgenthau, Kenneth Waltz, the Prisoners’ Dilemma, Thucydides, Machiavelli, and Hobbes – the book examines realist accounts of human nature and state motivation, international anarchy, system structure and the balance of power, international insti- tutions, and morality in foreign policy. Donnelly argues that common realist propositions not only fail to stand up to scrutiny but are rejected by many leading realists as well. Rather than a general theory of interna- tional relations, realism is best seen as a philosophical orientation or research program that emphasizes – in an insightful yet one-sided way – the constraints imposed by individual and national egoism and interna- tional anarchy. Containing chapter-by-chapter guides to further reading and discussion questions for students, this book offers an accessible and lively survey of the dominant theory in International Relations. JACK DONNELLY is Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver. He is the author of The Concept of Human Rights, Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice,andInternational Human Rights. .36768B:DDC 53B697 B95B7 3B69727BCD/303DC75DDD:73B697B7 D7BC8C733373D:DDCCambridge 53B697 Books B95B7D7BC Online © :DDC6Cambridge B9 University ,1 Press, 2010 THEMES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS This new series of textbooks aims to provide students with authoritative surveys of central topics in the study of International Relations. Intended for upper level undergraduates and graduates, the books will be concise, accessible and comprehensive. Each volume will examine the main theoretical and empirical aspects of the subject concerned, and its relation to wider debates in International Relations, and will also include chapter-by-chapter guides to further reading and discussion questions. .36768B:DDC 53B697 B95B7 3B69727BCD/303DC75DDD:73B697B7 D7BC8C733373D:DDCCambridge 53B697 Books B95B7D7BC Online © :DDC6Cambridge B9 University ,1 Press, 2010 Contents Acknowledgments page vii Introduction 1 1 The realist tradition 6 2 Human nature and state motivation 43 3 Anarchy, hierarchy, and order 81 4 System, structure, and balance of power 107 5 Institutions and international society 131 6 Morality and foreign policy 161 Conclusion: The nature and contribution of realism 193 Selected recommended readings 203 References 205 Index 228 v .36768B:DDC 53B697 B95B7 3B69727BCD/303DC75DDD:73B697B7 D7BC8C733373D:DDCCambridge 53B697 Books B95B7D7BC Online © :DDC6Cambridge B9 University ,1 Press, 2010 .36768B:DDC 53B697 B95B7 3B69727BCD/303DC75DDD:73B697B7 D7BC8C733373D:DDCCambridge 53B697 Books B95B7D7BC Online © :DDC6Cambridge B9 University ,1 Press, 2010 Acknowledgments I began working on this book a decade ago, in the spring of 1989, at the Netherlands Institute of Advanced Study. My long list of debts thus must begin with Peter Baehr, who invited me to participate in his research group, and Dirk van de Kaa, who as Director made the NIAS an incredi- bly supportive place for scholarly research. Had I been able to remain longer within the comfortable confines of Wassenaar I am sure that the gap between the start and finish of this project would have been much smaller. Over the years, various incarnations of this work have been commented on, orally or in writing, by numerous friends and colleagues. Michael Doyle, Peter Euben, Daniel Garst, Alan Gilbert, Arthur Gilbert, Peter Haas, Barry Hughes, Micheline Ishay, Bob Jackson, Bob Keohane, Harold Koh, Steve Krasner, Steve Leonard, Andrew Linklater, David Lumsdaine, Terry Nardin, Clifford Orwin, Joel Rosenthal, Eduardo Saxe, Michael Smith, Terry Sullivan, Alex Wendt, and Jim White are the names that appear in my records. I thank you all. To those whom I have forgotten to record, my gratitude is compounded by guilt over my neglect. I also thank Bassem Hassan and Jacek Lubecki for their fine work as research assistants. Bassem also did much of the work of checking cita- tions. And I owe special debts to four additional people. Rhoda Howard’s careful and skeptical eye, as usual, forced me to greater precision. Beyond the particular contributions of her line-by-line criticisms, her position as a reader outside the debates of international relations theory constantly reminded me to write for the broader audi- ence this book is intended to reach. Cathy Donnelly read the entire manuscript with unusual care. More often than I might care to admit, she drew attention to bad writing habits and stylistic infelicities, as well as the occasional passage that could only be described as hopelessly obscure. She also regularly and forcefully reminded me that there is more to life than work. Tim McKeown believed in this project early on and provided much appreciated encouragement as a series of early versions of what have vii /47879CBD, 645C7:8 C:6C8 .45C7:838CD0414,,D5868.45C7:8.C8 8CD9D8444584BD,Cambridge 645C7:8 Books C:6C88CD Online © BD,7Cambridge C: University .2 Press, 2010 viii Acknowledgments become chapters 2 and 6 were rejected by all the best journals in the field. More immediately, his detailed comments on the next to last draft of chapter 2 helped me to nail down arguments that were not yet suffi ciently clear and to avoid some significantly exaggerated claims of my own. Glenn Snyder’s thoughtful observations on the epistemological impli- cations of my line of argument, as well as numerous helpful suggestions for clarifying particular points, greatly improved the final draft. I espe- cially appreciate his help because I know that he disagrees with the sub- stance of a number of my principal arguments. Finally, I must thank more than a decade’s worth of graduate students in Chapel Hill and Denver. If I have succeeded in communicating clearly, it is in significant measure a result of their questions and puzzlement. By refusing to accept easy answers about either the strengths or weaknesses of realism, they have forced me to confront this material with a depth and precision that would have been impossible to achieveonmyown. /47879CBD, 645C7:8 C:6C8 .45C7:838CD0414,,D5868.45C7:8.C8 8CD9D8444584BD,Cambridge 645C7:8 Books C:6C88CD Online © BD,7Cambridge C: University .2 Press, 2010 Introduction Realism and international relations The tradition of political realism – realpolitik,power politics – has a long history that is typically traced back to the great Greek historian Thucydides in the fifth century BC.1 Although dominant attitudes towards realism have varied, realist arguments and orientations have been central to the Western theory and practice of international relations. In particular, “modern” international society, whether dated from the era of Machiavelli at the turn of the sixteenth century or that of Hobbes in the mid-seventeenth century, has been closely linked to realist balance of power politics. The link between realism and international theory is especially strong in the twentieth century. International relations first emerged as an aca- demic discipline before and immediately after World War I, largely in reaction against realist balance of power politics. The discipline was then reshaped immediately before and after World War II by self- identified realists such as E. H. Carr and Hans Morgenthau. Prominent scholar-practitioners, such as George Kennan and Henry Kissinger, have called themselves realists. For most of the post-World War II era realism has been the dominant paradigm in the Anglo-American study of international relations. Even in our post-Cold War era of globaliza- tion, realist theories, although much less dominant, still provide a context and motivation for many of the most important theoretical debates in the field. This book presents a sympathetic but fundamentally critical assess- ment of the character of realism and its contribution to the study and practice of international