Cover -- Half-title -- Series-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Realism and international relations -- Outline of the book -- Audience and orientation -- 1 The realist tradition -- A definition -- A typology -- Six realist paradigms -- Thomas Hobbes -- Hans Morgenthau -- Kenneth Waltz -- The Prisoners' Dilemma -- Thucydides' Athenian envoys -- Machiavelli -- Realism and the study of international relations -- The first generation -- Realism reconsidered -- The neorealist revival -- Discussion questions -- Suggestions for further reading -- Hobbes -- Morgenthau -- Waltz -- Prisoners' Dilemma -- Thucydides -- Machiavelli -- Other major realists -- 2 Human nature and state motivation -- Fear, honor, and interest -- Human nature and biological realism -- The national interest defined in terms of power -- The will to power -- Human nature and power politics -- Anarchy, power, and international politics -- The failure of the structural dodge -- The structural dodge -- Motives matter -- Survival -- Multiple motivational assumptions -- Realism as grand theory -- Absolute versus relative gains -- Power, balancing, and maximizing -- Competition, diffidence, and indeterminate predictions -- Security, offense, and defense -- Rationality -- Honor, glory, and heroic realism -- The pursuit of glory -- Heroic versus material realism -- The social construction of state interests -- Human nature and state motivation: variables, not constants -- The character and contribution of realism -- Multiple realist models -- Realism and its "competitors" -- Discussion questions -- Suggestions for further reading -- 3 Anarchy, hierarchy, and order -- Anarchy, chaos, and order -- Waltz on structure -- The nature of structural theory -- Defining structure -- Dichotomy or continuum? -- Anarchy and hierarchy -- Mixed political orders.

Anarchy, authority, and power -- Force, order, and authority -- Anarchy and authority -- Government and centralization -- A realist rebuttal -- Sovereignty and obligation -- Sovereignty -- Obligation -- Functional differentiation -- Great powers -- Structure and functional differentiation -- The shadow of Hobbes -- Anarchy and equality -- The Hobbesian sovereign -- Structure and human nature -- Discussion questions -- Suggestions for further reading -- 4 System, structure, and balance of power -- Stability and polarity -- The virtues of bipolarity -- The Cold War peace -- The logic of bipolarity -- The Sicilian expedition -- Power, threat, and balancing -- Balancing and bandwagoning -- Polarity and balancing -- Power and threat -- System, structure, and interaction -- Process variables and systemic theory -- Relationships -- Interactions -- Structural modifiers -- Discussion questions -- Suggestions for further reading -- 5 Institutions and international society -- The effects of international institutions -- The no effects thesis -- Confusing cause and effect -- Security institutions and the perils of anarchy -- Sovereignty, self-determination, aggression, and survival -- Sovereignty and social recognition -- The variability of sovereignty -- Self-determination and non-intervention -- Aggression and survival -- A realist rebuttal -- Institutions and the Prisoners' Dilemma -- Ameliorating the Dilemma -- Institutions and changing interests -- International institutions and international society -- The functions of international institutions -- The international society of states -- Discussion questions -- Suggestions for further reading -- 6 Morality and foreign policy -- Human nature and international anarchy -- The autonomy of politics and raison d'état -- The autonomy of politics -- Morality and the national interest.

Realist conceptions of morality -- Thucydides on justice and foreign policy -- Effectual truth, political consequences, and the public good -- Effectual truth -- Consequentialism -- The common good -- Good government -- Honor, glory, and virtù -- Heroic virtù and Christian virtue -- Agathocles, crime, and tyranny -- Arete, honor, and glory -- The heroic ethic of glory -- Honor and shame in the Melian Dialogue -- Realpolitik and the fall of Athens -- Cleon, passion, and prudence -- Nicias, Alcibiades, reason, and restraint -- Realist amoralism? -- Realist concern for morality -- Ethics versus the autonomy of politics -- Discussion questions -- Suggestions for further reading -- Conclusion: The nature and contribution of realism -- The negative, cautionary character of realism -- The realist research program -- The influence of theoretical traditions -- Discussion questions -- Suggestions for further reading -- Selected recommended readings -- References -- Index.