Whois & Analysis for warontherocks.com

Realism is the predominant school of thought in international relations theory, theoretically formalising the realpolitik statesmanship of early modern Europe.

Although a highly diverse body of thought, it can be thought of as unified by the belief that world politics ultimately is always and necessarily a field of conflict among actors pursuing power.

Crudely, realists are of three kinds in what they take the source of ineliminable conflict to be.

Classical realists believe that it follows from human nature, neorealists focus upon the structure of the anarchic state system, and neoclassical realists believe that it is a result of a combination of the two and certain domestic variables.

Realists also disagree about what kind of action states ought to take to navigate world politics, dividing between (although most realists fall outside the two groups) defensive realism and offensive realism.

Realists have also claimed that a realist tradition of thought is evident within the history of political thought all the way back to antiquity, including Thucydides, Thomas Hobbes and Niccolò Machiavelli.

A country's foreign policy, also called foreign relations or foreign affairs -policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve goals within its international relations milieu.

The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries.

The study of such strategies is called foreign policy analysis.

In recent times, due to the deepening level of globalization and transnational activities, the states will also have to interact with non-state actors.

The aforementioned interaction is evaluated and monitored in attempts to maximize benefits of multilateral international cooperation.

Since the national interests are paramount, foreign policies are designed by the government through high-level decision making processes.

National interests accomplishment can occur as a result of peaceful cooperation with other nations, or through exploitation.

Usually, creating foreign policy is the job of the head of government and the foreign minister (or equivalent).

In some countries the legislature also has considerable effects.

Foreign policies of countries have varying rates of change and scopes of intent, which can be affected by factors that change the perceived national interests or even affect the stability of the country itself.

War is a state of armed conflict between societies.

It is generally characterized by extreme aggression, destruction, and mortality, using regular or irregular military forces.

An absence of war is usually called "peace".

Warfare refers to the common activities and characteristics of types of war, or of wars in general.

Total war is warfare that is not restricted to purely legitimate military targets, and can result in massive civilian or other non-combatant casualties.