《2 Realism and the Present Great Power System Growth and Positional Conflict》.docVIP

2Realism and the Present Great PowerSystem: Growth and Positional ConflictOver Scarce Resources Randall L. Schweller There is no [theory] of political realism; instead there are many competing and complementary realist theories derived from the same first principles and basic set of assumptions. Though richly diverse in their theoretical and empirical concerns, all self-described realists share a political philosophy or worldview that is profoundly pessimistic about the human condition, moral progress, and the capacity of human reason to create a world of peace and harmony. This pessimism derives from the realist view of international politics as a perpetual struggle among groups for security, prestige, and power and influence, viz., control over territory, scarce resources and the distribution of those resources, the behavior of other groups, and the world economy. In more technical terms, realists see a world of constant positional competition among groups under conditions of scarcity. By positional I mean that what counts is not the players absolute skills or capabilities but how they perform relative to their opponents. A change in the absolute capability of any actor (holding constant the remaining actors capabilities) has important consequences not only for that player but also for the other players.1 By competition I mean that the primary goal of the players is to win or, at a minimum, to avoid relative losses.2 Neorealisms assumption that states seek to maximize their security (not power or influence) transforms classical realism from a game of pure positional competition to one of collaboration with mixed motives. This is because, among security-seeking states, there is no inherent competition–no state seeks to win at the others expense.3 This is not to suggest that security -28- is never a positional good. The familiar concept of the security dilemma explains how one states gain in security necessarily makes others less secure. But the security dilemma