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Topic: Offensive Realism

	Realism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Realism is commonly defined as a concern for fact or reality and rejection of the impractical and visionary.
		Realism in philosophical thinking is the belief that properties, usually called Universals, exist independently of the things that manifest them.
		Realism holds that in pursuit of that security, states will attempt to amass resources, and that relations between states are determined by their relative level of power.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Realism (981 words)

	The End of the Cold War: Defensive or Offensive Realism?
		Offensive realism predicts that states try to maximize their influence in the international arena, especially when they feel that they have the power and the capability to do so.
		Offensive realists would argue that a state in relative decline would pursue a policy of withdrawal because it is in the state's best interest.
		Offensive realism, on the other hand, provides an equally compelling explanation for why the Soviets reacted to their declining status in the way that they did.
	www.indyflicks.com /danielle/papers/paper03.htm (1808 words)

	Encyclopedia: Realism
		Main article: realism (arts) Burial at Ornans by Gustave Courbet In the visual arts and literature, realism is a mid-19th century movement, which started in France.
		Realism began as a reaction to romanticism, in which subjects were treated idealistically.
		See also: legal realism, critical realism, scientific realism, naÃ¯ve realism, socialist realism, philosophical skepticism, technorealism Legal realism is a family of theories about the nature of law developed in the first half of the 20th century in the United States (American Legal Realism) and Scandinavia (Scandinavian Legal Realism).
	www.nationmaster.com /encyclopedia/Realism (2307 words)

	The IR Theory Knowledge Base
		Defensive realism is an umbrella term for several theories of international politics and foreign policy that build upon Robert Jervis's writings on the security dilemma and to a lesser extent upon Kenneth Waltz's balance-of-power theory (neorealism).
		Offensive realism is a covering term for several theories of international politics and foreign policy that give analytical primacy to the hostile and unforgiving nature of the international system as the cause of conflict.
		A theoretical qualification to the pessimism of realism and the idealism of liberal internationalism.
	www.irtheory.com /know.htm (6903 words)

	International relations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		However, two positivist schools of thought are most prevalent: Realism and Liberalism; though increasingly, Social-Constructivism is becoming mainstream and postpositivist theories are increasingly popular, particularly outside the United States.
		With increased globalization, some argue that the statist nature of realism has proven wrong, as states cannot be considered as unitary actors in pursuit of rational self-interest.
		Examples include the reality that many states have an economy smaller than many MNCs and some MNCs even employ their own quasi-military forces to protect their own installations and thus are more powerful than the state.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/International_relations (3815 words)

	Part One - Realism Bifurcated: Offensive and Defensive Realism
		Realism in its purest form is based upon the following assumptions: 1) that states are primary and rational actors, 2) states adjust their policies in order to further their own self-interests, and 3) for states, military and national security interests are the principal policies.
		Realism concludes that states are motivated by power and national interest and as such will pursue gains relative to their peers and adversaries.
		In offensive realism, states view security as a fixed pie; unless a state works to increase its own security and resources by coercive means, others will take their portions and use them against the state that surrendered such capabilities in order to obtain more security.
	www.acdis.uiuc.edu /Research/OPs/Heller/contents/partone.html (3158 words)

	The University of Chicago Magazine: February 2002, Features
		Human nature realism, which is sometimes called "classical realism," dominated the study of international relations from the late 1940s, when the writings of Morgenthau (who taught at Chicago) began attracting a large audience, until the early 1970s.
		As with defensive realism, my theory-offensive realism-sees great powers as concerned mainly with figuring out how to survive in a world where there is no agency to protect them from each other; they quickly realize that power is the key to their survival.
		Offensive realists, on the other hand, believe that status quo powers are rarely found in world politics, because the international system creates powerful incentives for states to look for opportunities to gain power at the expense of rivals, and to take advantage of those situations when the benefits outweigh the costs.
	magazine.uchicago.edu /0202/features (1701 words)

	Art 250
		Realism was strongly influenced by the development of photography.
		The subject matter was secondary to this moment, however the subjects were different in that they were of the leisure activities and entertainment of the middle class and landscapes.
		This sculpture was found to be too real and too troubling by the group that commissioned it.
	webed.vw.vccs.edu /vwbaile/pages_art250/Lectures/250real.html (4619 words)

	PETER GOWAN - A CALCULUS OF POWER (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05)
		The only real case of a great power being torn apart in defeat is that of Germany after 1945, where political conflict over social orders—Communism versus capitalism—was at least as salient as the logic of offensive realism.
		Offensive realism has no difficulty acknowledging these non-security goals, ‘but it has little to say about them, save for one important point: states can pursue them so long as the requisite behaviour does not conflict with balance-of-power logic, which is often the case’.
		Remarking that ‘structural theories like offensive realism’ are not capable of predicting the outbreak of wars, he explains that ‘these limitations stem from the fact that nonstructural factors sometimes play an important role in determining whether or not a state goes to war.
	www.newleftreview.net /NLR25003.shtml (7102 words)

	Review of The Tragedy of Great Power Politics - Council on Foreign Relations
		Offensive realism rests on the assumption that great powers ‘are always searching for opportunities to gain power over their rivals, with hegemony as their final goal’ (p.
		To test the validity of offensive realism, Mearsheimer asserts that ‘we should almost always find leaders thinking that it is imperative to gain more power to enhance their state’s prospects for survival’ (p.
		While Mearsheimer succeeds in demonstrating the utility of offensive realism, he falls short of demonstrating that his theory has as much explanatory power as he claims.
	www.cfr.org /publication.html?id=6659 (921 words)

	IW Nation - The OFFICIAL Infinity Ward Forums -> United Offensive Realism Suggestions: Servers?
		The reality is a horrifying and nasty business with bits and body parts everywhere and people sawn in half by artillery, tank and mg fire.
		The only real defense against an accurate rifleman at medium to long range, is to keep moving constantly! The rifleman's best defense is the concealment of the spot he finds to shoot from although the (unrealistic) tracer-effect in CoD rather destroys that advantage and enables a shot to be "back-tracked".
		It was only really effective when used at exremely close range and is at its best when used through a gun emplacement slit or to clear a closed room or basement.
	www.iwnation.com /Forums/index.php?showtopic=9762 (4589 words)

	The Cost of Empire
		“Offensive realism” holds that the best way for a state to gain security is to amass overwhelming power—that is, by becoming a hegemon.
		Since World War II, offensive realism has undergirded American grand strategy, although the current administration’s policy is offensive realism on steroids.
		Traditional realists like Hans Morgenthau, George Kennan, and Walter Lippman reject the logic of offensive realism because they believe that when one state becomes too powerful all the others fear for their security.
	amconmag.com /10_06_03/cover.html (1629 words)

	University of Michigan Press
		Realism is a perspective on politics, not the whole story.
		On the other hand, those who assume that Realism is the only story in town, and who insist that nothing has changed since 1756, 1914 or 1939, face the prospect of becoming sectarians rather than scientists.
		We noted the revival of realism during the l980s "little Cold War", and how different the political climate was from the decade in which the book was written.
	www.press.umich.edu /ir/millennium/realism.html (2082 words)

	World Policy Journal - Realism and Liberalism Reconsidered by Hendrickson
		"Offensive realism," the theory that Mearsheimer advocates, holds that "the overriding goal of each state is to maximize its share of world power, which means gaining power at the expense of other states." The lulls and détentes that dot international history are illusory, always harboring predators simply awaiting a better opportunity.
		A realism that shunts those factors aside is psychologically naïve as well as morally obtuse, for such factors are significant even if they are only observed hypocritically (as, admittedly, they often are).
		Above all, Mearsheimer’s realism needs an Aristotelian doctrine of the mean, an understanding that power, like other valued things in life, is also subject to the laws of excess and defect, and that always wanting more is a vice no less fatal than not having enough.
	www.worldpolicy.org /journal/articles/wpj03-1/books.html (4570 words)

	Learn about Realism. Complete listing of Realism. Realism in Smartpedia Online (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05)
		However, the term realism is used, with varying meanings, in several of the liberal arts; particularly
		The theory of maximal realism holds that the most desirable position to be in is that of the
		Under maximal realism, the position where there are simultaneously two equally powerful co-hegemons (such as was the case during the Cold War between the United States and the
	www.smartpedia.com /s/b/Realism (639 words)

	The Tragedy of Great Power Politics
		While his theory of offensive realism dictates that states are power maximizers, there have been times when the United States had the ability to maximize its power but chose not to.
		Offensive realism does not seem to have any practical/functional guidelines, despite the author's statements to the contrary.
		He states that they are all offensive realist states and though each one had different priorities and very divergent methods of going about it, they all sought to maximize their power at various times...Mearsheimer even claims that the self-imposed breakup of the Soviet Union was a power-maximizing strategy!
	www.physicianbooks.com /MedicalBooks/isbn039332396X.html (1065 words)

	Sempa \| "Offensive Realism": The "Never-Ending Struggle for Power"
		Mearsheimer counters what he terms this "liberal" world-view with his theory of "offensive realism," which holds that great powers are engaged in a never-ending struggle for power.
		Mearsheimer supports his theory of "offensive realism" by analyzing great powers "in action" from 1792 (the beginning of the wars of the French Revolution and Empire) to the end of the Cold War in 1990.
		But his theory of "offensive realism" is closer to the thinking of Yale's Nicholas Spykman, who like the author, emphasized the anarchical state of international relations and the never-ending struggle among nation-states for global domination and survival.
	www.unc.edu /depts/diplomat/archives_roll/2002_04-06/book_sempa_power/book_sempa_power.html (898 words)

	Abstracts of Articles, Conference Papers, and Works-in-Progress (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05)
		Offensive realists and motivational realists contend that defensive realism: (1) confuses what states should learn from the international system with what states actually learn; (2) fails to account for revisionist states; (3) and places too much emphasis on unit-level "pathologies" in explaining self-defeating foreign policies.
		I argue that defensive realist assumptions generate more descriptively accurate theories of foreign policy and IR than either offensive and motivational realism or various non-realist alternatives (neoliberal institutionalism, critical theory, democratic peace theory).
		By addressing critiques and specifying defensive realism’s core assumptions I seek to advance both the intra-realist debate and the debates between realism and other paradigms.
	www.tufts.edu /~jtaliafe/abstracts.html (533 words)

	Pejmanesque: WHEN LIBERTARIANS ATTACK (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05)
		For example former national security advisor Brent Scowcroft, who is a realist by anyone's standards, appears to have embraced coalition building for the sake of coalition building alone - thus making a fetish out of coalitions and ignoring their true purpose and value.
		Rather, it was an offensive, pre-emptive war designed for power maximization in order to further what the United States and its allies rationally perceived as its own security interests.
		So the Cato article is trying to fit the rubric of defensive structural realism onto a war that did not meet the precepts of the theory in the first place.
	www.pejmanesque.com /archives/010039.html (1829 words)

	WWGPro.DE Buchtipps: From Wealth to Power (Fareed Zakaria) (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05)
		Zakaria justifies replacing classical realism with state-centric realism based on (1) logical argument: national resources the state cannot utilize cannot support a larger army and (2) the example of the United States immediately after the Civil War when the US became wealthy as a nation but maintained a minimal national government.
		The real changes in the South came about over the next century as a result of the rise of the national economy and national market starting in the 1880s.
		Zakaria attacks defensive realism by refuting arguments that some defensive realists would rarely make; but this is rare and cannot distract from the convincingness of the his overall thesis: that it was the rise of the American state that helped America convert its vast national wealth into international influence.
	www.wwgpro.de /books-isbn-0691010358.html (1367 words)

	Programme of ESSHC (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05)
		This paper examines Athenian foreign policy in the period 351-338 BCE in light of Mearsheimer's theory of "offensive realism." Offensive realism interprets the behaviour of states as predicated on a fundamental need for security, which can best be attained through acquisition of regional hegemony.
		Assessment of reception or rejection of overtures for alliances, in particular, points to an offensive posture, as does the oft repeated sentiment of Demosthenes, echoed in other orators, of contending with Macedon at a distant remove from Attica, rather than on its borders.
		In essence, then, the arguments that motivated Athenian policy were essentially realistic, and offensive realism provides a sufficient explanatory model for Athenian behaviour in the interval between the Social War, when the hegemonic model was overt, and Chaeronea, when it ceased to be relevant.
	www2.iisg.nl /esshc/programme.asp?selyear=6&pap=1033 (328 words)

	[No title] (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05)
		and whether certain weapons are inherently offensive or defensive becomes less important than the operational context in which they are used.
		, whether motorized vehicles, bombers, missiles and/or nuclear weapons, exist, making it possible for deterrent or offensive forces to avoid or overwhelm defensive fire), as well as on the relative protection of offensive and defensive forces (whether offensive forces are stealthy or armored and whether machine gunners can be shielded from offensive or deterrent fire).
		The first step in assessing the relative lethality of offensive, defensive, and deterrent operations is to determine whether there is an absolute weapon -- a weapon capable not just of destroying other weapons but also entire geographical areas, such as cities.
	www.isanet.org /noarchive/adams.html (8309 words)

	CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Relics
		Harnack's tone in referring to this development is that of an unwilling witness overwhelmed by evidence which it is useless to resist.
		In the case of the Nails with which Jesus Christ was crucified, we can point to definite instances in which that which was at first venerated as having touched the original came later to be honoured as the original itself.
		Join to this the large license given to the occasional unscrupulous rogue in an age not only utterly uncritical but often curiously morbid in its realism, and it becomes easy to understand the multiplicity and extravagance of the entries in the relic inventories of Rome and other countries.
	www.newadvent.org /cathen/12734a.htm (3701 words)

	Amazon.com: Books: The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05)
		The central tenet of the political theory called "offensive realism" is that each state seeks to ensure its survival by maximizing its share of world power.
		If history validates offensive realism, then the theory should yield predictions about the future of world politics and the chances of renewed global conflict.
		Since offensive realism is an academic movement, readers will expect some jargon ("buckpassing," "hegemon"), but the terms are defined and the language is accessible.
	www.amazon.com /exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393020258?v=glance (3130 words)

	The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (Excerpt)
		The best that might be said about theories such as offensive realism is that they are helpful for understanding how great powers interacted before 1990, but they are useless now and for the foreseeable future.
		In fact, all of the major states around the globe still care deeply about the balance of power and are destined to compete for power among themselves for the foreseeable future.
		Consequently, realism will offer the most powerful explanations of international politics over the next century, and this will be true even if the debates among academic and policy elites are dominated by non-realist theories.
	www.wwnorton.com /catalog/fall01/002025excerpt.htm (986 words)

	Lord review (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05)
		This monumental and ambitious work sets out to provide the definitive account of the “offensive realism” school of international relations theory.
		Offensive realism represents a kind of synthesis of the classical realism of Hans Morgenthau and the structural or “defensive” realism of Kenneth Waltz.
		With Morgenthau it assumes that states (or major states) seek to accumulate as much power as possible for themselves, but it accepts Waltz’s view that the reason they do so lies in the structure of the international system rather than in the human lust for power.
	www.nwc.navy.mil /press/Review/2002/autumn/br3-a02.htm (554 words)

	PARAMETERS, US Army War College Quarterly - Summer 2002
		His larger purpose is to offer “offensive realism” as an explanation of all great power politics, useful not merely in understanding the past but also in predicting the future.
		As proof that offensive realism corresponds with the actual behavior of great powers, he points to the expansionism of Germany and Japan through 1945 and of the Soviet Union throughout its existence, along with the balancing and buck-passing that each induced from their adversaries.
		From time to time in that real world some nation emerges out of the pack fired by the conviction that its destiny is to direct history to its intended final destination.
	carlisle-www.army.mil /usawc/Parameters/02summer/sum-rev.htm (9354 words)

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