Realism

A Raison de etat inspired international relations theory

• Community of states exists in anarchy: no worldwide "911" event, and there's no universal world policy
• Thus, international politics is a self-help system; allies could help but security is not guaranteed
  • allies are like the friend in the locker room: they may help you beat someone up, but they aren't gaurenteed to be there
• Power is the key to maintain security
  • you never know how much power you need to stay safe
• Security is an act of re-balance: one state's security hurt the security of other states

Longer term factors are nearly invisible.

Causality exists between long term and short term events => Short term changes are caused therefore by longer term change while long term events are hyped up by shorter events