The Enduring Dilemmas of Realism in International Relations

Bibliographic Data

ID6061007
AuthorsStefano Guzzini (0000-0001-7721-6983, Danish Institute for International Studies and Uppsala University, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume10
Issue4
Pages533-568
Publication date2004-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of International Relations (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1354-0661 • E-ISSN: 1460-3713
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1354066104047848
OpenAlexW2120615931
LanguageEN
Citations received42
References cited122

The present article argues that the discipline of international relations is bound to repeat its rounds of debates about realism as long as the underlying dynamic intrinsic to the realist tradition is not understood. Whereas present debates tend to criticize contemporary realists for going astray (an unhappy conjuncture, as it were), this article claims that there exists a systematic theoretical problem with the way realist theorizing has developed within international relations, and consisting of two fundamental dilemmas. The first or ‘identity dilemma’, the choice between distinctiveness and determinacy, results from the characteristics of the central concept ‘power’ — realists either keep a distinct and single micro–macro link through concepts of power/influence which provides indeterminate explanations or they improve their explanations, but must do so by relaxing their assumptions, thereby losing distinctiveness. The second or ‘conservative dilemma’, the choice between tradition and justification, results from the fact that realism is a form of practical knowledge, which needs some form of justification other than the recourse to mere tradition. Hence, realists either update the practical knowledge of a shared diplomatic culture while losing scientific credibility or, reaching for logical persuasiveness, cast their maxims in a scientific mould which distorts the realist tradition. Realism in international relations is fated to return to these dilemmas until it abandons its own identity as derived from the ‘first debate’ between realism and idealism. By doing so, however, it would be free to join a series of metatheoretical and theoretical research avenues which it has so far left to other schools of thought

Aesthetics · Credibility · Dilemma · Epistemology · Idealism · Identity (music) · International relations · International relations theory · Optimal distinctiveness theory · Political science · Politics · Post-realism · Power (physics) · Realism · Sociology · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology

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