PACS 10 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Realpolitik
15 Feb 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
The world as it is, and the world as it should be. These elements can often be put together in different ways! Prescriptive theories: try to predict the best way to put things together. Descriptive theories: try to understand how things got put together the way they are. Theories have to be tested to have promise (otherwise just conspiracies) Research is the continuous testing on theory. Theories that are well supported by research are called rigorous . Theories compete with each other because reality is messy. Peace is best kept through superior power. Don"t like prescriptive ought to be theories, because they stray away from reality. Hostility occurs naturally as part of the competitive nature of international relations. States act in ways to maximise their self-interest (self-interest is measured in material terms not moral/ideological) Anarchy prevails at the international level and states seek to survive by accumulating power (anarchy = no rules)
