Revision summary
Anarchy means no higher protector, so States must help themselves. Morgenthau defines interest as power; Carr rejects utopian reliance on opinion. Balance internally by arms and externally by alliances such as NATO. Defensive realists stop at security; offensive realists push toward hegemony. Regimes may help, but realists refuse to treat them as a substitute for capability.
Model answer
Introduction
- Realists start from anarchy: no world government sits above the State. Survival is the first interest. The prescription is self-help, power, and careful alignment, not trust in law alone.
Body
Anarchy and survival
- Kenneth Waltz’s structural realism: the organising principle is anarchy, so States must provide their own security.
- Hans Morgenthau’s classical line: interest defined as power, prudence, and a balance that checks any would-be master.
- E. H. Carr warned against relying on liberal harmony while others arm.
The operational prescription
- Self-help: maintain armed forces, intelligence, and economic capacity that can be mobilised.
- Balance of power: internally by arms, externally by alliances. NATO is a realist instrument even when dressed as a community.
- Relative gains: watch partners who may convert cooperation into tomorrow’s threat, a reply to Robert Keohane’s more optimistic institutionalism.
- Nuclear deterrence for those who can, as Waltz also argued that nuclear bipolarity can stabilise.
- Defensive realists (Waltz) say seek enough security, not maximum empire. Offensive realists (John Mearsheimer) say regional hegemony is the safer peak. Both still prescribe power, not disarmament by example.
What realists tell States not to do
- Do not outsource survival to the UN Charter’s collective security when the veto can freeze it.
- Do not assume trade or a regime will bind a rising peer. China policy debates inside Asia follow this caution.
Limits inside the school
- The prescription can feed security dilemmas. One State’s survival kit is another’s threat.
- It under-describes domestic choice and the pull of institutions that Keohane maps in After Hegemony.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD A[Anarchy Waltz] --> SH[Self-help] SH --> B[Balance of power] B --> S[Survival] M[Morgenthau interest as power] --> S K[Keohane regimes] -.qualifies.-> S
Conclusion
The realist prescription in anarchy is self-help, a balance of power, attention to relative gains, and distrust of paper guarantees. Survival is ensured by capability and alignment, not by the harmony of interests. How much power is ‘enough’ divides Waltz from Mearsheimer.
Quick related
Students also ask
-
Russian-Ukraine crisis has cast a dark shadow on the energy needs of the member states of the European Union (EU). Comment
Next question in the 2022 paper (Q4). View answer →
-
Do realists forbid diplomacy?
No. Diplomacy and alliances are tools of balancing. They forbid treating diplomacy as a replacement for power.
-
Is joining the UN against the prescription?
No. The UN is an arena. Realists use it and still keep a veto, nuclear arms, or alliances for the day the Council fails.
PYQ trend
When UPSC asked this
Related PYQs from other years, newest first. Open a question to read it.
-
2022 · Q1(a) · PSIR GS 2 · 10 marks
Discuss the main limitations of the comparative method to the study of Political Science. -
2022 · Q1(d) · PSIR GS 2 · 10 marks
Bipolar structure of the world is more stable than the multipolar one. Comment. -
2022 · Q2(a) · PSIR GS 2 · 20 marks
How has the electoral democracy augmented the participation of people in the democratic process? -
2022 · Q4(c) · PSIR GS 2 · 15 marks
Russian-Ukraine crisis has cast a dark shadow on the energy needs of the member states of the European Union (EU). Comment -
2022 · Q8(b) · PSIR GS 2 · 15 marks
Discuss the consequences of illegal cross-border migration in India's north-eastern region -
2021 · Q1(a) · PSIR GS 2 · 10 marks
Discuss the political economy approach to the comparative analysis of politics. -
2021 · Q2(a) · PSIR GS 2 · 20 marks
"The post-colonial state was thought of an entity that stood outside and above society as an autonomous agency." Explain -
2021 · Q2(b) · PSIR GS 2 · 15 marks
Discuss the emergence of neo-realism and its basic tenets
More from this paper
Q1(a) · UPSC Mains 2022 · PSIR GS 2 · 10 marks
Discuss the main limitations of the comparative method to the study of Political Science.
Comparative Politics
Comparison substitutes for experiment, as Lijphart argued. Mill’s designs fail when variables outnumber cases. Galton’s problem and conceptual stretching are standing limits. Official data and Eurocentric concepts add political distortion. The method is disciplined inference, not a controlled trial.
Q1(b) · UPSC Mains 2022 · PSIR GS 2 · 10 marks
What are the main challenges faced by the developing countries in the era of globalisation?
Globalisation
Globalisation opens markets and tightens external rules. Wallerstein’s hierarchy and Prebisch’s trade concern still describe many late developers. Capital flight, TRIPS, and farm subsidies in the North cut policy space. Inequality, informality, and climate costs are domestic faces of the same pressure. Regional and South–South bargains are the usual reply, not autarky.
Q1(c) · UPSC Mains 2022 · PSIR GS 2 · 10 marks
Discuss the commonalities between the Marxist and Realist approach to the study of International Politics.
Approaches to the Study of International Relations
Both approaches deny that trade and law automatically pacify world politics. Carr’s critique of utopia feeds realist and Marxist readings. Morgenthau and Waltz stress State power; Lenin and Wallerstein stress capital and hierarchy. Institutions are treated as masks or tools, not as a world government in waiting. The commonality is conflictual materialism; the split is State versus class.
Toppers' copies
Toppers' copies for this question will be uploaded soon.