Political Realism and the Primacy of the State

Abstract

The realist tradition of international politics stresses the primacy of questions of security and power in the relations between states, and the dangers of allowing what it regards as Utopian ideas about reform of international politics to intrude into the rational calculation of state interests. Realist thinkers are, to varying degrees, sceptical about claims for justice and rights, especially when debate about these is introduced into the conduct of diplomacy. Such claims are viewed as attempts to camouflage much more traditional state interests with spurious moral authority.