International anarchy, realism and non-intervention

Leo Mccarthy

pp. 75-90

in: Ian Forbes, Mark Hoffman (eds), Political theory, international relations, and the ethics of intervention, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1993

Abstrakt

The Realist school of thought considers international relations to be essentially anarchical in nature. The absence, and indeed the impossibility, of world government provide the basis for Realism's understanding of the ethical dimensions of world politics. In a straightforward sense, the existence of international anarchy is indisputable; a myriad of utopian projects aside, the human race insists stubbornly on organising itself in discrete political units. We shall see, however, that this circumstance is insufficient to support the range of normative positions on intervention to which the Realist perspective leads.