Research Methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 4

Research Methods - Essay Example Whilst he acknowledges that legal compliance and laws may provide a correlation to state behaviour and international politics, Waltz feels that is theory that explains them and to this end attempts to reconstruct classic realism through a somewhat scientific approach. Therefore, Waltz’s book seeks to go beyond the classic realist position of politics in terms of state characteristics and state interaction with each other. Therefore Waltz’s central theory of neo-realism in international politics is underpinned by Waltz’s proposition that the system of international politics is inherently dependent on a system of anarchy. This system of anarchy according to Waltz effectively creates the international order of hierarchy, which is further defined by states who are unitary rational actors on the one hand and rational actors on the other. To this end, Waltz’s discussion of the Cold War highlights his propensity towards viewing the international political order from a systemic perspective as opposed to considering the intentions of individual states and human behaviour, which is arguably the inherent weakness of the book in context of contemporary international politics. For example, in focusing on the international politics as a whole state system as opposed to individual state level factors, Waltz avoids assumptions about human nature and morality and power in international politics. Waltz’s neo-realist paradigm proposes that the central factor in international politics is security and whilst gathering power, often results in destructive effects. Therefore, in propounding the idea that state survival is imperative in international politics, Waltz suggests that gathering power isn’t prominent however the goal of survival necessarily results in power being obtained by default. To this end, Waltz’s theory posits that the international system is the dominant factor, which he