The Vocabulary of Realism: A Contextual Critique of the Epistemology of Classical Realism in International Relations Theory

Abstract

The way which the classical realist tradition of International Relations Theory has come to characterise the mechanics of world politics is predicated on the classics of political theory. As an explanatory theory of International Relations, realism seeks to account for international relations on the basis of political reality, irrespective of normative and ethical issues. Despite the explanatory basis of classical realism, it nonetheless relies on the themes and theorists of political theory in a ‘softly normative’ fashion – evidence of the influence of norms in explanatory theory. However, the inclusion of classics of political theory in the realist tradition is without regard to the context of the occurrence of those classics and their illocutionary dimensions of meaning. As such, if classical realism is to be revived in a way that is suggested by theorists of both International Relations and political theory, then it must be able to survive the rigours of more contemporary interpretive methods. This thesis will therefore apply the interpretive lens of the Cambridge approach to how classical realism relies on classical of political theory to determine whether the classification of texts of political theory in the realist tradition is defensible. By determining that the realist tradition does not account for the context of classics of political theory and their illocutionary dimensions, this thesis will suggest an alternative approach in which realism can engage with political theory. This approach will be a reassessment of the epistemology of classical realism.