ABSTRACT
Designating a book that was only published ten years ago a classic of the field is always going to be contentious. This is especially the case when the book has generated an array of reactions ranging from outlandish praise to outright condemnation. Nevertheless, in this chapter I am going to argue that John J. Mearsheimer's The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (TGPP) will, in time, become a classic work of International Relations (IR). 1 In the process of reviewing the main arguments of Mearsheimer's book, I will provide three principal reasons that justify designating TGPP a classic in the making. First, the book makes an important contribution to the realist tradition, which continues to be the most influential tradition of IR. Second, the theory that Mearsheimer develops — offensive realism — has not only become an important new branch of realist theory, but it has precipitated a number of debates within realism, including a key debate with Kenneth Waltz's version of structural realism. Offensive realism is deliberately meant to provide a different account of international politics than that provided by Waltz, and those designated as defensive realists. Most fundamentally, offensive realism argues that great powers are continuously seeking opportunities to increase their power relative to other states. Third, the arguments that Mearsheimer develops in his book have influenced some of the important post-Cold War US foreign policy debates. To his credit, Mearsheimer has not shied away from the public arena, and he has used his theory to make a number of controversial predictions and policy recom-mendations. 2 When all three of these reasons are considered together, there is ample justification for my claim that TGPP will be recognized as a classic text of IR.
