Thucydides Realism

From the works of Thucydides, realism was created and has become a major paradigm in international politics. Thucydides studied the Polynesian War between Athens and Sparta, and he studied the relations between these city-states. From his many observations, he put a focus on how the balance of power is a major factor in international politics as well as the importance of the state. The state is an essential component of realism and it is the foundation for many of the central assumptions coming from realism. With this importance put on the state, many realists are attached to the state as the dominant actor in international politics. They incorporate these components of realism into many of their theories and explanations of why certain events …show more content…
In an anarchic political world, realists argue that survival is the number one priority. They believe that in order to survive in the world, people must have power, especially military power. Furthermore, realists do not trust other political powers because everyone wants to survive, and each person is regarded as selfish. Realism stresses the competitive side of international politics, and this paradigm believes that states are concerned with their own security and act in pursuit of national interests (Korab-Karpowicz). The states are the main actors on the political stage wanting to survive, while other actors are involved with the states' needs and other efforts. From these beliefs, realism argues that states are the best political entity to focus their efforts on in the political world. Realism does not focus on the individual and substate levels nor the state level because the state wants to gain advantages over others. This causes states to become rational actors by how each of them wants to try to gain power over one another. Realism is defined by this system-level paradigm from its beliefs that states are unified, rational, and central actors in the political …show more content…
Realists combat this argument by stating that multinational corporations and other non-state actors can be controlled by the states themselves. The states can decide if certain organizations can enter their states and operate within their own territory. States can allow these corporations to further their own interests and power to achieve relative gains. For example, when South Korea adopted a U.S defense system, China saw it as a threat and in order to fight against it, China caused many South Korean corporations such as Hyundai to halt production due to a huge loss of revenue (Mullen). China was able to convince its media to boycott its products while also having the government put restrictions on the company itself (Mullen). This shows how a state can control non-state actors such as corporations in order to gain advantages. Non-state actors are able to be controlled by the state and this is another key reason why realists focus on the state as the dominant actor. States have the authority to control what happens within its territories and this is what occurs numerous times in contemporary