POL114H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Billiard Ball, Bourgeoisie, Complex Interdependence
Document Summary
January 9, 2017 rely on yourself: self-help. Cannot rely on alliances, international organizations or international law: only possible order is through balance of power. The only order in the international system relies on who has more power. (flexible alliances: one cannot rely on alliances. Because one or the other might turn against the other: for realists, hard power is the most important. (military, guns = security and economic size, pessimistic view of the world. Change, especially change for the better is unlikely: realpolitik: it is a realist view of the world. Based on practical rather than moral ideas: only way to fix this is to make the world non-anarchic; but this would require a world government. Neorealism: also known as structural realism , abandons the human nature argument. It doesn"t matter if human beings are naturally good or bad. What we have in the international system is anarchy: anarchy: no world government.
