Contextualising the Syrian Crisis against Realism and Security Competition in the 21st Century

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to promote critical engagement with a wide range of theoretical and empirical issues regarding the applicability and relevance of Realism or Realpolitik in the new realities of today's international politics. It draws on arguments taken from scholars but are reconstructed in a way useful to students of IR. It aims to evaluate the realist claim that international politics revolve around state actors and the pursuit of their national strategic interests in an anarchic international system. To assess this argument, Russian attitude towards the international community's proposal for a resolution to intervene in the Syrian civil war will be reviewed. This will help to determine the applicability and potency of the core assumptions of Realism in today's international politics. Realism may not be a new thinking, but given that war is a recurrent event in world politics, this paper will establish that the Realist paradigm remains one of the most accurate theories for understanding developments in today's world. This paper argues that as long as lack of global coordination due to individual national security or pride issues remain the bane of the global community, Realism is still relevant in the understanding of international politics in the 21 st century.