Realism And World Politics
In realism the theoretical formulation is deeply rooted in the consideration that the main actors on the World stage are States otherwise referred to as legally sovereign actors. Sovereignty, in this context, implies that there is no actor above the state that can compel or cause it to act in any given way under any given situation, realist strongly believes MNCs or International NGOs all have to work within the framework of inter-state relations.
What propels the state to behave in their peculiar ways is traceable to the human nature as being centrally important because of its tendency for being fixed and crucially selfish.
World Politics represents struggles for interest, especially Power, between nation-states in the international system with each trying fervently to enhance the maximization of their national interests. The struggle maybe said to be a manifestation of the balance of power mechanism, through this mechanism— States form alliances to stop any one state from dominating the rest.
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It is in this line thought pattern that Smith and Baylis have illuminated that:
- “World Politics is all about alliances, with Diplomacy a key mechanism for balancing various and variegated interests, but finally the most important tool available for implementation States’ Foreign Policies”.
The realist strongly stipulate that there is no sovereign body superior in the International Political and Economic system and that World Politics should be viewed within the context of a Self-Help system’ in which states must rely on their Military, Diplomatic, Economic and other equally important resources to achieve their ends through cooperation regardless of the fact that the potential for conflict is ever present.