Realism in International Relations: still no way out of its dilemmas
After a Chinese, Romanian, Czech and Italian translation, 'Realism in International Relations and International Political Economy: the continuing story of a death foretold' has now been translated into Polish. As with some of the previous translations, the translation includes also 'The enduring dilemmas of realism in International Relations' (European Journal of International Relations, vol. 10, no. 4, 2004).
This biography of realist thought after 1945 combines an internal history of realist ideas and concepts with an external history of the societal and political context that informed those debates. It argues that realism can be understood as a tradition whose evolution shows the repeated attempts and failures to turn the practical maxims of European great power diplomacy of the 18-19th century into scientific laws of a contemporary US social science. The realist tradition is caught in a dilemma: either it upgrades its scientific status while distorting its practical knowledge, or it defends its practical knowledge while foregoing a scientific justification and foundation.
In a new preface for the Polish translation, Guzzini focuses in a first part on the components of this dilemma and develops on realism's need for theorising, specififying its different forms. A second part deals with two common misperceptions of the realist tradition. There is an odd confusion between realism as a foreign policy strategy and as a theory. Neither is realism always right, whenever things turn sour in world affairs, nor is liberalism vindicated, when diplomacy works. Any theory will have to explain both conflict and cooperation. Realism is not the 'shit-happens'-theory of International Relations. At the same time, and on the level of strategy, realism should not be confused with militarism or national primacy, either, since at least some realist thinkers have reflected on their counter-productive effects for national security.
The Polish preface is accessible in English as a DIIS Working Paper.
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