The Retrogressive Impact of Contemporary Realism on International Theory

Abstract

The current emphasis on realism in international analysis rests on two theses, one negative and one positive. The negative thesis is the belief that systems theory has been undermined by Stephen Walt’s (1987) apparent falsification of Kenneth Waltz’s (1979) proposed systems theory of international relations. Waltz’s projected theory was not a systems theory, even though he thought it was. And Walt’s study did not refute it, even though Waltz gallantly conceded that it did. Because Waltz did not understand how analytical theories, whether systems theories or general theories, are structured, his proposal for a theory did not permit an evaluation.