Mearsheimers Argument on Realism and Whether Its Applicable Today

In the world today, Europe has the most extensive and well-developed institutions. In this regards, many of the western policymakers have emphasized the need to establishing webs of overlapping institutions outside the European continent. More emphasis has been placed on the Asian continent, where there exist only a few weak institutions. There are some international relations theories such as liberalism, constructivism, and green theory, amongst other, all of which are in response to realism. It is noted that these theories are directly challenging the underlying logic of realism.

If this sample essay on"Mearsheimers Argument on Realism and Whether Its Applicable Today" doesn’t help,
our writers will!

Trust an expert

Over the years, there have been debates on whether the institutions affect the prospects for international stability. Realism holds that institutions are just, but a reflection of the world distribution of power, and are always on the lookout for their marginal interests. Furthermore, realism argues that institutions lack the ability to alter states behavior; therefore, they fail to exist as an important cause of peace (Mearsheimer, 5-10). On their defense institutions claim that they have the ability to influence change in states preference, thereby automatically changing the behavior of the states. Moreover, they claim to have the power to discourage states from calculating self-interests.

However, despite their argument, the belief is that the institutions possess little or no power to influence the behavior of a state and, therefore, they lack the ability to promote stability of the action within which they operate. In a context, the word institution is used to refer to formal bodies that lay down rules and regulations, which stipulate how states in the international world compete and cooperate. These institutions are because of agreement between states, and they act as regulatory standards of behavior. Realism tends to view the global area set as a brutal area where states are constantly looking in which they can take advantage of the other countries. (Mearsheimer, 5-10). The pessimistic view is based assumptions that all states possess great military technology therefore possess the capability of using them against other countries.

International organizations are existing informal business associations that are operated in areas above the interstate level, such as non-governmental organizations. These informal business associations are mainly driven by motivations in particular fields. Today, such fields of interest include human rights and medicine. They are responsible for establishing themselves, as well as bearing responsibility for their day-to-day activities.

On the other hand, international institutions refer to formal bodies that are set by a group of states to supervise on matters of foreign relation and mainly from a political perspective (Mearsheimer, 8-10). An example of these organizations is the inter-governmental organizations. On an international level, these organizations are such as the United Nations. International regimes are the overall international rules and policies between states. They compose of four regime components, which include principles, norms, decision-making procedures, and regulations. As per their definitions, although there exists a difference, the three terms possess a similarity, which is grounded on the fact that, these organizations and institutions are bodies that are used to enforce international laws. Another similarity lies in the fact that they work together to ensure cooperation between states and serve to generate accepted legislation, to reduce instances as warfare between countries as well as solve major disputes. (Moldoveanu, 112)

In conclusion, the assertion by Mearsheimer in 1994, that only realism elucidates the international system, and his dismissals of the other approaches to international institutions do not entirely apply in the world as at today. International organizations have come up strong to foster global cohesion, even where personal gains are no feasible. The various theories have also held some proof of purpose that render and have successfully negated Measrsheimers allegation.

Bibliography BIBLIOGRAPHY Mearsheimer, John J. 1995. "False promise of international institutions." In interational security, 5-49.

Moldoveanu, Marcel. n.d. "Regional Integration and International Cooperation: Between Wishes and Realities." In Romanian Economic and Business Review , 111-119.