ABSTRACT
Political realism was developed as a school of thought in international relations theory in the mid-twentieth century. It represents an important paradigm in international relations and is a useful framework for analyzing events and describing, at least in general terms, how diplomats and statesmen conduct themselves in the real world of international politics. This chapter briefly reviews traditional realist thought of the last century, focusing on how realists have regarded multilateral diplomacy as a tool of statecraft. It shows how a contemporary realist in the early part of the twenty-first century would place a much higher value on the utility of multilateral diplomacy than did the traditional realists of the mid-twentieth century. In the early years of the twenty-first century, the United States is still the leading power of the contemporary order and is highly likely to remain so for many decades.
