POLI 244 Lecture Notes - Lecture 24: Power Transition Theory, Security Dilemma, Status Quo
12 Mar 2016
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Document Summary
Realism and the end of the cold war. Modern realism: breakdown of the post-world war i in the 1930s collapse of great power cooperation after ww2 established dominant approach to the theory. Cold war era: different as there was reduced uncertainty about alliance choices. Balance of power theory: cold war explained by su near domination of. 3 lines of criticism: egregious predictive failure, lack of correlation between independent and dependent variables, state behaviour inconsistent with realist predictions. Must scrutiny towards structural realism fails to anticipate change, and leads those who believe it to expect the opposite: stability ambiguity around bipolarity. Main criticism of theories of hegemonic rivalry: none generated the kind of explanation before the fact. Correlations between power and change realists: change as result of rise/decline of relative power conditioned by the distribution of capabilities structural realists: bipolarity, peaceful nature of change hegemonic rivalry: highlights us hierarchy of world politics in the outcome.
