Realism is an international relations theory that focuses on the nation state as the primary actor and sees national interest defined in terms of power. According to realism, states operate in an anarchic system and act rationally to pursue their self interest, primarily security and power. This is illustrated through examples like the Prisoner's Dilemma game which shows how states will act in their own self interest even at the expense of others. Thucydides is considered the father of realism for his writings on the Peloponnesian War which analyzed the conflict in terms of state interests and power dynamics rather than moral or ethical concerns.

1. Realism In International
Politics

2. Questions Posed
• How does one define Realism?
• How should/do states act according to the
theory of realism?

3. Four Assumptions of Realism
• States are the most
important actors in World
Politics
• States act as rational
individuals in pursuit of
their national interest
• States act in a system
lacking a central authority
• States must seek power to
provide for their security
Thucydides, the Father of
Realism and author of the
Penolopessian War

4. States as Rational Actors
• The State is a single
entity that thinks like
an individual
• The State can prioritize
its interests
• The State can perform
a `cost-benefit’ analysis

5. The Prisoner’s Dilemma
• The governor of a prison once had two
prisoners whom he could not hang without a
voluntary confession of at least one. He
summoned one prisoner and offered him his
freedom and a sum of money if he would
confess at least one day before the other
prisoner would do so, so that the second
prisoner could be hanged. It the other
prisoner confessed at least a day before him,
then the other prisoner would be freed and
rewarded and he would be hanged

6. Prisoner:
`And what if we should both confess on the
same day, your Excellency?'
Governor:
`Then you will each keep your life but you
will each get ten years in prison'.

7. Prisoner:
`And if neither of us should confess, your
Excellency?'
Governor:
`Then both of you will be set free, without
any reward, of course.’

8. Governor:
But will you bet your neck that your fellow prisoner
-that crook- will not hurry to confess and pocket
the reward? Now go back to your solitary cell and
think about your answer until tomorrow.'
The second prisoner in his interview was told the
same, and each man spent the night considering
his dilemma.

9. Prisoner’s Options
Option Reward Drawbacks
1) Confess one day before freedom with reward none
other prisoner
2) Confess on same day saved from execution 10 years in prison
3) Neither confess freedom no reward
4) Confess after other prisoner none death

10. Rules for Survive or Die!
• If someone challenges you, you must duel by
playing rock, paper, scissors.
• The loser is dead and the winner gets all of the
dead person’s cards.
• Until cards run out, you can get a new life card.
• Once you are dead and there are no new life cards,
sit down.
• No negotiations allowed.

11. Game Debriefing
• Why did you fight?
• What was the best strategy, given the
stated goals?

12. The Leviathan
Thomas Hobbes (1651)
“[All men have the equality of ability such that
the weak may be able to kill the strong] . . . this
equality of ability ariseth equality of hope in the
attaining of our ends. And therefore if any two
men desire the same thing, which nevertheless
they cannot both enjoy, they become enemies”

13. Leviathan (continued)
“In the nature of man, we find three principal
causes of quarrel: first, competition;
secondly, diffidence (fear), thirdly, glory.
The first maketh man invade for gain; the
second, for safety; and the third, for
reputation.”

14. State of Nature
“During the time men live without a common
power to keep them all in awe, they are in a
condition which is called war. . . . every man
against every man. . . . and the life of man
[is] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and
short.”

16. • Athenian, 460 - 395 BC, author of the History of the
Peloponnesian War
• In 424 BC he was appointed one of the generals to command
the Athenian fleet off the Thracian coast but was defeated. For
this failure Thucydides was exiled for 20 years.
• During this exile he wrote his account of the war.

17. Biography
• Called the father of
“Political Science” due to his
strict standards of evidence
gathering and analysis in
terms of cause and effect
without reference to
intervention by the gods.
• Interest in developing an
understanding of human
nature to explain behavior in
such crises as plague and
civil war.

19. Athens
• Maritime Commerce
State
• “New Thinking”
• Direct Democracy (for
citizens)
• Leader of the Delian
League, collected
tribute from other
membersAthena Goddess of Wisdom

21. Sparta (Lacedaemon)
• Oligarchy, heavy use
of slaves
• Land Based
• Military Culture
• Self-Sufficient but
Poor

22. The Dromos, a Spartan sports ground.

23. Universal Cause of Conflict
• "I have written my
work, not as an essay
which is to win the
applause of the
moment, but as a
possession for all
time.”
• I believe that the truest
reason for the quarrel,
though least evident in
what was said at the
time, was the growth of
Athenian power, which
put fear into the
Lacedaemonians and
so compelled them into
war.”