CDSn4001:
Conflict
Analysis
International systemic
causes of war: critiques
of balance of power
October 22, 2024
Miriam Matejova, PhD
Agenda
• Critique of neorealism
• Constructivism and conflict
Basic tenets of realism
Interest of states Survival
How to achieve survival Increase power
Human nature Man is flawed and therefore prone to
conflict
Anarchy The environment in which sovereign
nation-states act
Polarity in international politics
Examples
Unipolarity The hegemon keeps order, sets up the
rules, mediates disputes, and opposes
any autonomous action
Rome
USA since 1991?
Bipolarity Two competing great power
hegemons. Each presides over an
alliance of weaker states.
Athens vs Sparta (5th century
BC)
The Cold war
Tripolarity With three great powers, no balance
is possible. Each state seeks to avoid
having the other two gang up on it.
?
Multipolarity With a municipality of powers,
multiple combinations can produce
balance.
Almost all European history
(19th century Europe)
World since 9/11?
Status quo vs revisionist states
• Status-quo states
– Generally satisfied
– Goal is self-preservation
– Tend to balance
• Revisionist states
– Generally dissatisfied
– Motivated not by security but by opportunity –
goal is self-extension
– Tend to bandwagon
International Anarchy – a myth?
• “Anarchy is what states make of it.”
• If states behave conflictually, then the nature of anarchy
appears to be conflictual. If states behave cooperatively,
then it appears the nature of international anarchy is
cooperative.
• What states do depends on what states’ identities and
interests are, and identities and interests change.
• Because states and actors think anarchy is a certain way,
it exists to them in that way!
Constructivism
• Among the most influential IR traditions of the late
1990s/early 2000s
• Elements of global politics (e.g., state interactions) are
historically and socially constructed; they are not some
inevitable consequences of human nature.
• Emphasis on the meanings of ideas, objects, and actors. These
are determined by social interaction.
• States will try to survive, but we don’t know how they will
achieve survival – could be through cooperation or conflict.
Beyond a realist world
• Constructivism doesn’t disregard states as central
actors in global politics but allows for other forces
to shape the world, as well.
• Ideational factors: identities, values, norms, beliefs
• Shared norms govern actors’ relationships
– E.g., non-use of WMD, prohibition of slavery, of genocide, etc.
• It is fundamentally about the possibility of change
within the international system (not of the system)
Do
political
leaders
matter?