ABSTRACT

This chapter intends to make an argument for the continuing relevance of realist theories in addressing the new security threats or risks that states, societies, and even individuals, now face. Realist scholars share some minimal theoretical assumptions, but are otherwise members of a broad church instead of a homogeneous school of thought. The chapter shows that realist theories have a hard time explaining the unipolar moment because of a fundamental misreading of the effect that the structure of the international system has on great powers. It explores the point that realist scholars should redefine their future role within the universe of international relations (IR) theories. Since polarity is an important variable to explain the security policies of major powers in most realist theories, one would expect realist security studies scholars to be well suited to deal with the occurrence of the unipolar moment in the 1990s.