Realism, A Reductionist Thought?

Hoffmann's The Long Road To Theory explicitly criticizes the inability of Realists to develop a general theory to sufficiently describe the field of International Relations. The article mainly criticizes the dimension of power politics which considers people to be self-interested, motivated by personal gains with survival being the primary goal. In essence, it can be said that Realism is regarded as reductionist by Hoffmann as it fails to take into account other factors such as the domestic political environment while determining power politics. However, is it really reductionist? Look at the world around you? How would you describe the international arena? Referring back to the old western philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes, who described the Nature of State to be "every man for himself" which emphasizes the role of survival and in fact encourages people to be selfish. Sadly, the world today is very selfish indeed where there is a power struggle between states who are desperate to maintain their global or regional hegemony. You could look at the example of United States involvement in the Central Asian Republics as an ideal example of a global hegemony trying to maintain its dominance and survival by making sure that regional hegemony does not become stronger. There are various other examples even in the case of countries giving aid for personal long term benefits which show the extent to which states can be self-interested looking to increase their dominance.

Furthermore, Hoffmann also points out the three kinds of policy consisting of normative, policy and empirical. According to him, enough importance to empirical theory has not been given and theorist should develop tools for comparison which would provide them with statistical data to substantiate their claims in the future.