John J. Mearsheimer starts the first chapter of his
acclaimed book, ‘The Tragedy of Great Power Politics,’ by stating that the
culmination of the cold war gave rise to the notion of ‘perpetual peace’ in
which it was believed that it was possible for nations to not view each other
as adversaries, rather to think of other nations as being part of an ‘international
community.’ However, the author is of the opinion that such a view of
international politics is flawed and his ideas parallel those of Hobbes when
he writes that: ‘international politics has always been a ruthless and
dangerous business, and it is likely to remain that way.’ In hindsight, his
words carry a prophetic significance- in light of the current power
struggle witnessed in the world.
Other things that Mearsheimer talks about in his first
chapter include a detailed explanation of the theory that he calls offensive
realism. He also, very frankly, states the limits of the theory that he is
advocating and then goes on to present the school of thought which stands in
contrast to realism that is, liberalism.
The part of his chapter which intrigued me the most was the
one he wrote initially in which he mentions the reasons for power being such a
strong motivation of states. He writes that nations of the world compete with
each other to maximize their power however; their eventual goal is to become
the supreme power of the world that is the ‘hegemon.’
He provides three reasons why states will always be in
conflict with each other. But the factor which underlies every other reason is
the notion of ‘survival.’ Mearsheimer basis his theory on the concept of every
man (read: state) for himself. If I understand his proposition correctly, then
his theory paints a rather bleak picture of the international system which will
always be in a constant state of competition and power struggle because nations
in the world do not have a government controlling them, and because they do not
trust the intentions of other states and since they do possess certain amount
of offensive military capacity, this pursuit of power- according to
Mearsheimer- become necessary in order to survive.
Although states would love to become global hegemons, Mearsheimer notes that the vast majority of states just try to achieve regional hegemony since global hegemony is practically impossible to achieve. Other than this slight modification, you do understand Mearsheimer's central arguments and provide a solid summary of his key points.
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