ABSTRACT
REALISM HAS LONG been criticized for being somehow an immoral approach to international relations. Recently, neorealism has come under similar criticism. In this paper I examine some moral ramifications of the realist and neorealist oudooks in the light of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. First, using Michael Doyle's framework, I will show how realism and neorealism can both be susceptible to the charges of immorality more recendy aimed at neorealism. Second, I will introduce the idea that a careful reading of Thucydides' Histoty shows that Thucydides was concerned with this issue and treated it in a way that brings out the problematic moral relationship of political theory to political practice. Third, I will examine Thucydides' observations on the morality of realism in practice through an analysis of the Melian Dialogue and other relevant events and speeches in The History of the Peloponnesian War. Fourth, I will put forth Thucydides' realism as an alternative which may help lessen realism's vulnerability to charges of immorality.
