Chapter 5 Theories and models

Abstract

According to Thucydides, writing in 416 BC, when the Melians suggested that the Athenians accept Melian neutrality in the war against Sparta, the Athenians replied, “No, for your enmity doth not so much hurt us as your friendship will be an argument of our weakness and your hatred of our power amongst those we have ruled over” (Vasquez, 1996, p. 16). Realists consider the Melian Dialogue to be an immutable lesson that morality in itself is not sufficient against power (Vasquez, 1996, p. 1). Edward H. Carr (1939) articulates the main tenets of classical realism in The Twenty Years’ Crisis 1919–1939. According to Carr, “Internationally, it is no longer possible to deduce virtue from right reasoning, because it is no longer seriously possible to believe that every state, by pursuing the greatest good of the whole world, is pursuing the greatest good of its own citizens, and vice versa” (p. 12). Thus, the eternal dispute, as Albert Sorel put it, is “between those who imagine the world to suit their policy, and those who arrange their policy to suit the realities of the world,” and the realists resolved it by making policies that suit the world (as cited by Carr, 2001, p. 12).

Citation

Attar, R.A. (2009), "Chapter 5 Theories and models", Attar, R.A. (Ed.) Arms and Conflict in the Middle East (Contributions to Conflict Management, Peace Economics and Development, Vol. 13), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 93-113. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1572-8323(2009)0000013007