Human nature as behaviour and action in economics and international relations theory

Abstract

This article traces the current state of dominant theories or international relations (IR), particularly structural realism, liberal theories of preference, and rational choice theory to six foundation assumptions regarding human nature located in the canonical liberal texts from which neoclassical economics also proceeds. These assumptions are deductively and empirically critiques and their limitations for social theorizing are explicated. An alternative view of ‘the human condition’ more fruitful for constructivist theorizing in IR is generated with recourse to the Aristotelian analysis of Hannah Arendt.