ABSTRACT
Religion plays a less significant role in Waltz’s neorealism than it does in Morgenthau’s classical realism: religion is de facto absent. Despite the continuity of realist thought in Waltz’s theory, he differs on various points and that explains his dealings with religion. Waltz holds ideas of a scientific–philosophical, political–philosophical, and political–theological nature, which lead to the marginalization of religion. He does not leave out religion out of ignorance, disregard for religion, or rigid secularism. For theoretical reasons, Waltz limits his theory strictly to the international system, leaving out the individual and national level: places where he knows religion plays a role. As with Morgenthau, Waltz is a strong supporter of the autonomy of the political and reduces international relations to international politics in which survival is the primary goal for states. Waltz shares the political theology of Morgenthau and Niebuhr, but he separates this stricter from his theory than Morgenthau, because he replaces this theological inspiration with the philosophy of Spinoza. I call this conservation by secularization because, with this, Waltz is able to conserve the core assumptions of political realism although it comes with certain costs.
