Realism In Jack Snyder's One World, Rival Theories

International relations, like most things in the political arena, is influenced by ideology which is at the root of the competing impulses driving U.S. foreign policy, internationalism and unilateralism (Kaufman, 2014). The decisions political leaders make are often influenced by their preconceptions about how the world works. These preconceptions are often created from theories. In his “One World, Rival Theories”, Jack Snyder makes the case that out of the three dominant theories guiding international relations no single one is sufficient for guiding foreign policy. Instead the theories are at their most useful when used collectively. Reliance on one single theory can result in simplistic policies that miss the complexities of world events. Reality does not fit neatly into any theory but rather has aspects of all three as well as aspects no theory can explain. “Foreign policy decision-makers actually use theories or, at least the …show more content…
Realist consider balance of power and relative gains; they have little faith in the ability of international institutions and law to prevent conflict. For realists, international politics takes place in a dog-eat-dog world, where states keep a wary eye on potential rivals and constantly seek ways to improve their own positions (Datta, 2015). Realism has a weakness for ignoring progress and seeing the potential for conflict everywhere, but it also looks for ways to ensure security so that war is unnecessary. (Snyder, 2004). George H Bush was a realist but also recognized its limitations and worked around them. It was on realist grounds that he refused to continue on to Baghdad after defeating the Iraqi army in the Gulf War but he sought help from international institutions and worked through the principle of collective security, characteristics of