POLB80H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Human Nature, Hegemony, John Mearsheimer
Document Summary
Lecture 3: realism the godfather of ir paradigms. Classical realism: human nature is flawed, & therefore our relations on the international stage are also sub-optimal. Human nature is selfish, fearful & arguably idiotic. Since humans are flawed their foreign policies are too. Lack of order would exist in society. Thomas hobbes said in his book leviathan bc humans are fearful, life will be nasty, brutish, . They require a leviathan an order above us, aka the state. Neo-realists moved away from classical focus on human nature. Argue that the anarchic nature of the international system causes states to behave aggressively. No world gov"t/police = explains the aggressions the states engage in. Concerned about politics at the system level . *core neo-realist assumptions: the international system is anarchic. Anarchy different from chaos; means there is no authority to turn to. No international gov"t: states are the most important actors in the international system. How states behave within the anarchic int. system.
