Table Of ContentRealism and Fear in International
Relations
ArashHeydarianPashakhanlou
Realism and Fear
in International
Relations
Morgenthau, Waltz and Mearsheimer Reconsidered
ArashHeydarianPashakhanlou
SheffieldHallamUniversity
Sheffield,UnitedKingdom
ISBN978-3-319-41011-1 ISBN978-3-319-41012-8(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-41012-8
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To Homa andFarzaneh Pashakhanlou
A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Icouldnothavecompletedthismonographonmyownandwouldliketo
takethisopportunitytoshowmygratitudeandappreciationtothosewho
helped me along the way. First and foremost, I would like to thank my
mother, Farzaneh Pashakhanlou, and my sister, Homa Pashakhanlou.
They have been there for me since day one and deserve credit for all of
myaccomplishmentsthusfar.Thisbookisdedicatedtothem.Therestof
my family and relatives should also be acknowledged in this regard.
Academically, I owe the greatest debt to David Galbreath, Adrian Hyde-
Price,AiniusLašasandCampbellCraig.Withouttheirguidance,helpand
supportthismanuscriptwouldhavenevermaterialized.Iamalsothankful
totheexternalreviewerswhosecommentshelpedimprovethisstudy.The
interlibrary loan team and the subject librarian, Katy Jordan, at the
University of Bath were also instrumental to my research. Their efforts
were essential in making this book the most comprehensive evaluation of
theworksofMorgenthau,WaltzandMearsheimertodate.Finally,Iwant
to thank the University of Bath and Sheffield Hallam University for
providing me with the financial support and resources needed to carry
outthisresearch project.
vii
C
ONTENTS
1 RealismandFearin International Relations 1
2 Fearinthe Works of Morgenthau,Waltzand Mearsheimer 23
3 Morgenthauand Fear 45
4 WaltzandFear 71
5 MearsheimerandFear 91
6 FearinRealism andBeyond 117
Bibliography 143
Index 169
ix
CHAPTER1
Realism and Fear in International Relations
INTRODUCTION
“Aworldoffear1andtreacheryistorment,aworldoftramplingandbeing
trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it
refinesitself.”2ThecitationisfromGeorgeOrwell’sclassicnovel1984but
couldhavejustaswellbeenagrimfear-basedtrajectoryofworldpolitics.
Indeed,fearhasbeenemployedbydifferentintellectualtraditionssuchas
feminism, postcolonialism, poststructuralism, constructivism, liberalism
andrealism toshedlight on thisdominion.
Feminismmakesuseoffeartoaccountforgenderedrelations,whichisat
theheartofthefeministproject.3Fromthisperspective,CynthiaEnloeand
Joshua Goldstein have argued that rape is an instrument of war used to
inbreed fear in the enemy.4 Postcolonial studies tend to emphasize the
asymmetric relations between the West and the rest. They refer to fear in
examining this issue. As an example, Vivienne Jabri maintains that the
twenty-first-centurymodeofcolonializationwherethesubjectssufferfrom
violence, intimidation and humiliation creates a continual state of fear
among the victimsofpostcolonialism.5 Fearisevokedinpoststructuralism
aswell.Itinformstheiranalysesofdiscoursesandpractices.6Inthisregard,
DavidCampbellsuggeststhatChristendomrequiresdiscoursesofdangerto
sustainitselfandusesitspowertomanufactureanddefinewhat“we”should
fear.7 Leading constructivists such as Alexander Wendt and Richard Ned
Lebowarguethatfearcharacterizesrelationsofenmitywherecompetition,
conflictandwarprevail.Conversely,theabsenceofthisemotionpromotes
©TheAuthor(s)2017 1
A.H.Pashakhanlou,RealismandFearinInternationalRelations,
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-41012-8_1
2 REALISMANDFEARININTERNATIONALRELATIONS
more peaceful international interactions, according to these scholars.8
Similarly,thelackoffearbetweendemocracieshasbeenutilizedtoexplain
the separate peace that exists between them in the liberal tradition by
AndrewMoravcsik.9
Despite the fact that different schools of thought in International
Relations (IR) evidently use fear in their narratives, it is realism that has
become synonymous with this emotion in the discipline. This is perhaps
not surprising since many of its supposed forefathers make famous refer-
encestofearintheirclassicworks.Thucydidesisacasetothepoint.Inan
oft-quoted passage of The History ofthe Peloponnesian War, he maintains
thatitwasthe“growthofAthenianpowerandthefearwhichthiscaused
in Sparta” that ultimately brought about this war in the fifth-century
B.C.10 One of Niccolò Machiavelli’s most memorable and controversial
advices to The Prince is that it is better to be feared than loved.11 In
Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes notably claims that in the state of nature
there is “no [a]rts; no [l]etters, no [s]ociety; and which is worst of all,
continuall feare, and danger of violent death; [a]nd the life of man,
solitary,poore,nasty,brutish,andshort.”12
Ifwefast-forwardtothepost-WorldWarIera,whenIRfirstbecamean
institutionalized academic discipline in its own right, realism has contin-
ued to be strongly associated with fear.13 This may appear reasonable
considering that its characteristically pessimistic worldview seemingly
lends itself to a fear-based trajectory.14 Moreover, out of the four issue
areas in IR that rely heavily on fear, that is, the ethnic conflict,15 terror-
ism,16nuclearweapons17andthe security dilemma18literature, the latter
twoaredominatedbyrealistthinking.Indeed,ithasbeenarguedthatthe
“nuclear peace” envisioned by realism is rooted in fear19 and that this
emotion“ispivotal torealist theorisingof securitydilemmas.”20
In more general terms, fear is widely regarded as the most important
emotion in realist analysis of international politics.21 In fact, it is com-
monly considered as one of the central drivers in the realist tradition
overall. According to Lebow, “[f]ear is absolutely central to [the] realist
paradigm.”22 Numerous prominent critics23 and proponents24 of realism
concur and emphasize the prominent conceptual, theoretical, empirical
and logical role of fear within this school of thought. According to the
literature,thehighlyinfluentialclassicalrealismofHansMorgenthau,the
defensive realism of Kenneth Waltz and the offensive realism of John
Mearsheimer are no exceptions in this regard, as will be evidenced later.
That is why this book is dedicated to the task of uncovering these four
1 REALISMANDFEARININTERNATIONALRELATIONS 3
facetsoffearintheaforementionedrealist’swritings.Especiallysincethis
isa timelytopicthat hasreceived littleserious attention thus far.
The remainder of this chapter is designed to help prepare the ground
for this examination. Section “The existing literature” provides an over-
viewof the existing literatureon realism andfear andsituates the present
investigation within this body of work. Section “Realism” discusses the
realist school of thought, its various strands and their interrelationship.
The selection criteria are presented and justified in the Section “The
selection criteria: Morgenthau, Waltz and Mearsheimer,” along with the
emphasis on Morgenthau, Waltz and Mearsheimer. Fear is the subject of
the Section “Fear.” Here, its role in human affairs, in general, and IR, in
particular,ishighlighted.Theconceptionoffearthatinformsthisinquiry
is also unveiled here. This is followed by an overview of the method that
will be adopted in this study to locate and analyze fear in the writings of
the selected scholars—fully integrated content analysis.25 Furthermore,
this section presents the analytical framework that clarifies how the con-
ceptual, theoretical, empirical and logical dimensions of fear will be
assessed. A synopsis of the entire book is provided in the Section
“Overviewofthebook.”Abriefsummaryoftheprecedingpointsinforms
the finalpartof thischapter.
As specified in the roadmap provided above, the next stop in this
investigation is however a review of the existing literature. It is to this
topicthat wenowturn our attention to.
THE EXISTING LITERATURE
Consideringhowcentralrealismhasbeeninthestudy26andpractice27of
IR, it is not surprising to find that there is already an enormously vast
secondary literature on this school of thought.28 If we only consider the
literature on the leading realist thinkers covered here, namely
Morgenthau, Waltz and Mearsheimer, there is still an extensive body of
work dedicated to these scholars.29 Despite the fact that there is such an
immenseliteratureonrealismandtheabove-mentionedtheorists,thereis
hardly any publication on the relationship between this intellectual tradi-
tion and fear. This is not surprising considering that fear itself has been
heavily understudied in IR.30 Although the literature frequently refers to
fear,itseldomstudiesit.Scholarstypicallyappealtothisemotionwithout
providing any further elaboration, before quickly moving on to the next
topic.31Oneofthemainreasonswhyfearhasbeenneglectedisduetothe
