Offensive Realism and International Institutions: Mearsheimer's Views

This essay delves into John Mearsheimer's theories on international relations, focusing on his concept of offensive realism. It examines his views on power politics, the role of international institutions, and the causes of war, highlighting his perspective on the power imbalance among states and the pursuit of hegemony. The essay discusses Mearsheimer's arguments in the context of his intellectual background, including his interpretation of neorealism and his critiques of other scholars like Alexander Wendt and Kenneth Waltz. It analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of his theories, including his predictions about China and the Middle East and his emphasis on military power and strategic competition. The essay also explores Mearsheimer's views on war strategies, nuclear deterrence, and the limitations of international organizations in resolving disputes. It concludes by assessing the originality and impact of Mearsheimer's work on the study of international relations and its relevance to contemporary global challenges. The analysis also covers the distinction between Mearsheimer's offensive realism and Waltz's defensive realism, focusing on the role of power and the anarchic structure of the international system. The essay highlights how Mearsheimer's theories provide a framework for understanding the dynamics of conflict and cooperation among states, emphasizing the importance of power and security in shaping international outcomes.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
International Relations
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The subject matter of the question is based on political opinion of John Mearsheimer
about the international institution. In this case, a brief history of the author regarding the
political career as well as his remarks on the international relations has been discussed and it
has been mentioned that how his theories help to support the political ambiance regarding the
international matters (Neumann, Iver 2017). It is important to discuss the various aspects of
the theories of John to understand the role of the offensive realism in case of international
relation and an attempt has been made to explore the idea of John regarding the international
organisation. It is also aimed to determine whether there are any weak points of John
regarding the issue (Gilpin, Robert 2016).
The subject matter of this thesis is to consider John’s view regarding the international
institution and to find out the originality of the fact whether international institution has
played any role regarding resolving the dispute between the international states (Deudney,
Daniel and Ikenberry 2017). In almost all his researches, he has concentrated on the power
politics and power hunger of the political leaders. John had propounded many theories and a
follower of the offensive realism. It has been stated by John that the base of the international
politics depends on the supreme power. In this case, Alexander Andrew argued that
international organisations are playing important role due to globalisation in the international
politics. He was supported the view that the efficient homework of the organisations has been
grown up and pointed out certain problems that has been faced by international organisations.
He opposed the view of the realists and stated that the realism theory is based on the
reflection of the distribution of power. On the other hand, K.Z.T. Amin had tried to point out
certain reasons regarding the US invasion over the territory if Iraq. It has been mentioned by
him that the main object of US was to defeat the conventional force of Iraq. Huntington
states that the mentality of the offensive realists has been clarified in this thesis and their
leaning mentality regarding the massive power politics has been generated here. The main

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reason behind the war as pointed out by John has been described as power imbalance that
also give rise confliction among the states. He has structured the international organisation
and predicted certain strategies to strengthen the base of offensive realism. Certain weak
points of his research have also pointed out here. Whereas, in the view of Waltz, international
system provides reserve policie and he had pointed out the tendency of these organisations
regarding the hegemony and balance of power. Jeffery Taliaferro had attempted towards the
anarchy system and its role over the international security.
However, the common weakness regarding the entire political scientists is that no
one has tried to define the provoking behaviour of the states. It has been observed that the
states are attempting to grab the weak countries by making their military power strong and
they do not even care for the rules of the institutions. The concept of balancing derives
from this dilemma. The balance of power restricts the powerful nature of the strong states
as against the weaker states and motivates the states regarding their survival policies. In
this case, it can be stated that the theory of John had achieved success as he stated that the
power imbalance is the main reason of war.
The main aim of the thesis is to point out the role of the international institution
regarding the dispute resolving matter and their impacts on the international states.
Key objective is to analyse the rsearch methodology of John’s theory. It has been
mentioned under the thesis that John has rightly predicted the position of the China and the
Middle East countries and the essence of his policies regarding the same. However, in this
thesis, it has also been discussed that the theory of John is suffering from certain limitations
such as his concept is limited to the international organisations only. He had failed to
concentrate on the cultural clash and hegemony of western culture.

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The first books of John gave him an opportunity to do a deep research on the military
intervention and he had successfully contributed all his applications regarding the war politics
(Mearsheimer 2014). In this theory, he had working on the mental state of the leaders
regarding the war policies and he that the leaders are following certain policies regarding the
same and that can be categorised into three parts has mentioned it. The three strategies laid
out by him are the war of attrition strategy, limited aims strategy and the blitzkrieg strategy
(Mearsheimer 2017).
He had narrated that the leaders of the war made certain mental theories to win a war.
According to the first theory, there is a huge level uncertainty along with huge cost that are
applicable on the attacking troops. As per the second strategy, the level of uncertainty and the
cost of the war, both are comparatively low from the first strategy (Mearsheimer 2017). The
most applicable and chosen option is the third one that based on the decisive process to
defeat the enemies and it has been mentioned that the well strategic policies of the attacker
make it possible to lower the cost to achieve the target in a fruitful manner. It has been stated
by him that the policies of World War II is a suitable example of conventional deterrence
(Nichols 2013).
The second strategy of John helps him to make a fair chance regarding the nuclear
policies and strategies. He has been argued that the nuclear strategies of Ukraine and the
Germany should be increased to strengthen the hands of United States and he had suggested
to the militaries of United States to change the Foreign policy to deal with the cold war with
the Soviet states. He had also opposed the Ukrainian nuclear policy and their decision over
the surrender the weapon to the Soviet states (Mearsheimer 2017).
Hans Morgenthau regarding the international relation introduced the word realism. It
is an approach on the liberal institutionalism and constructivism. It has been stated by the

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policy makers that the policies should be based on the approaches regarding the international
relations and it should be kept in mind that the policies are the main responsible regarding the
war policies. Johnmearsheimer was a supporter of the offensive realism and his ideologies are
based on the policies made by the Kenneth Waltz that is known as neorealism. The theories
that are being supported by John were circled around the massive international powers and he
regarding the great power politics has supported it. According to his theory, dominancy is the
only option regarding the war politics and there is no place for the democratic peace theory in
war politics. It has also been stated by him that the theories propounded by Waltz are based
on defensive realism and it has been stated by many of the researches that the theory of John
will be opposed the theory of Waltz. However, it has been observed that John had accepted
the theories made by Waltz and merged up the offensive and defensive realism for the
betterment of the base of the theory (Glaser 2014).
Certain distinctions have been observed regarding the theories of john and Waltz on
the international relations. It has been mentioned in this topic that the international relations
are based on supreme power and there is no place for the independent effect. According to
the theory of John, the power injected in the war is limitless and force has been created by the
anarchic structure. This structure is based on the international politics. Whereas the concept
propounded by the Waltz is based on the limited power of the political leaders and as per his
view, the war fighters are commencing fight to achieve a limited power (McFaul et al. 2014).
According to the views of the offensive realism, the intention of the international
system is to create powerful states so that they can gain energy by beating the inferior
powers. It has been stated by John that dominancy is the main object of the international war
politics. The main thing regarding the theories of the John and Waltz are that both of them
tried to excavate the system regarding war policies and the realism, but in both the cases, the
power related sphere are differentiated by both the author (Downes et al. 2014).

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According to famous scholar Downes, the main theme of the theories of John is
power politics (Downes et al. 2016). Power denotes certain abilities regarding the human
control over the social and environmental issues. There should be an equity regarding the
power to establish the peace. However, it has been noticed that the asymmetric conditions of
the states are creating power imbalance and that causes risk of war. It has been predicted by
John that the superior states are targeting the inferiors and there is a position created
regarding the military capability. It has been stated that power imbalance is depending on the
various military dimensions. It is important to understand the scope of the international
development to restrict the scope of the power imbalance.
The structure of the international institution can be divided into three parts. It has
been pointed out by Jensen that the categories of international organisations are the inter-
governmental organisation, international non-governmental organisation and the
multinational organisations(Jensen 2016). Inter-governmental organisations are formed by
way of agreement held between the native states. It has been stated by the researchers that
both the governmental and the non-governmental members can be the member of the
international NGOs. Multinational institution or organisation is the co-ordinated company
that are formed by nation states. In this case, there is one Mother Company and certain
amount of subsidiary companies. It has been mentioned that the International Labour
Organisation or the Economic Co-operation and Development are the instances of the
multinational institution.
There is a link present between the international organisations and the realism. It has
been stated that the international system portrayed the opportunities regarding the advantage
taking policies and there is a dominating intention regarding the state policies are present to
denote the objective of the state policies.

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The believer of the realism theory that there are certain chances that can define the
policies regarding the international law and system has stated it. The chances are categorised
into five parts. The first prediction is based on the anarchic ideology of the international
system. The second prediction is based on the military capability of the states and it has been
noticed by the researchers that the states are becoming potential harm to each other (Deudney
et al. 2017). The third presumption reveals the failure of one state regarding the war policies
of the second or other states.The fourth policy is based on the lack of independency in the
international institutions. The fifth strategy based on the survival strategy of the states
regarding the global system.
It has been stated by John that the international policies are based on power politics
and there is no limit regarding the same. It has also been stated by him that the intention of
the stated regarding the war politics are based on hegemony (Kubálková 2015). The term
hegemony has been defined as per his view that the superior states want to grab the power
from the inferior states and there is no place for independent efficacy.
It has been pointed out that the international policies are based on certain policies and
it has been stated by the policy makers that the objective of the international organisation is to
promote the message of international peace and security. It intends to develop the friendly
relation in between the states and the citizens. Certain promotions are being made regarding
financial stability and the progression regarding the societal development. However, John had
stated that the international organisations had failed to fulfil all the objectives.
The main issues regarding the same are that whether the international institution has
independent effect over the great power behaviour or not. John Mearsheimer had pointed out
the loopholes regarding the international organisations in his journal: “The False promise of

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international institutions”. It has been opined by him that the international organisations are
unable to resolve the dispute in between the states. They have limited power. According to
the offensive realists, the international relations cannot be resolved by the limited powers.
The main reason behind the same is that in limited powers, there are certain restrictions
imposed that make them lag behind (Neumann 2016). It is the main differences in between
the offensive and the defensive realism. The example that has been made by the realist is the
functions of the NATO (Lindley-French 2015). It has been stated by the realists that United
Nations have given powers to the organisations to resolve the dispute over the international
relations, but they cannot impose their decisions on the member states. It has been stated that
the international organisations are working through ad hoc alliance.
The main ideology of john is based on the massive power of the states regarding the
war policies and it can also be stated that most of the politics are based on uncertain
intentions. To certain extent, the ideology of John regarding the international relations seems
right. It has been showed by him that the base of fear is dominant in nature. He had
recognised the fact as the tragic essence of international politics. From many of his theory, it
has been observed that the ideas made by him regarding the political features are predicted
rightly. His research regarding the Israel Lobby and the U.S. foreign policy has made a huge
success (Mearsheimer and Walt 2016). John was opted for the view regarding the policies
taken for the Israel as the poor coalition system between the individuals and the organisations
also concentrated on the foreign policy of United States over the issue. It has been stated by
him that Jewish are fond of Israel and in this case, Christian Zionists are playing an important
role. He was critically analyse the policy of the Israel lobby and suggested that the policy
taken by the farm lobby will not for the interest of the United States.
His assumption regarding the Israel war has proved successes. He predicted that the
policies taken by the Israel is based on the wrong policies and they will lose the war against

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Lebanon and United States. He also stated that the rising power of China can be a great
dilemma for the interest of the United States. He had rightly predicted the Israel’s nuclear
policies on the United States and it has been showed to him that America should change its
foreign policies to deal with the international matters (Pashakhanlou 2014). He has rightly
observed regarding the Chinese evasion and it has been stated by him that the internal
policies of China can be an apple of discord to the capitalist countries. He had opposed the
political tactics of China and it has been stated by him that China had invested a lot of money
for the national security and the policy of China is not at all based on the democracy
(Kireshner 2014). It can be observed that the observation made by John Mearsheimer is not
judgment-based, but he had described the interaction between the states regarding the
anarchic world.
He has structured the international relationship and the facts and reasons of the same.
He that dominant nature of the leaders make huge success form has also stated it the pre-
history period. As an example, he had made the versions of the Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf
Hitler and the Qing dynasty in China. These rulers had made the perfect example regarding
the hegemony. The work of John is to analyse the political matters from certain views. He
had done the exact thing. According to his view, the anarchic system helped the states to act
as per their own interest and the classical sense of realism will help to maintain a balance of
power (Mearsheimer 2013).
It is also observed that John had conveyed his view on China’s emergence and stated
that it will cause great dilemma to the United States. According to the recent policies taken
by the United States denotes the same thing over the issue. In recent times, USA’s policies
over China had become a burning topic and it has been observed that USA provokes Japan
and India to enhance their power to beat the nuclear power of China. Therefore, from certain
views it can be stated that the policies and the theories propounded by him were right. It was

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his duty to analyse the matters and predicted things based on the theories as a political
scientist. He has made a right observation regarding the political hegemony and the war
policies that had been propounded by him gave him a huge success.
His decisions over the policies of USA regarding the international relationships were
rightly observed and he has concentrated over the European allies and the lacking capacity of
the military troops. The China’s policy regarding the dominancy on the South China sea has
been predicted by him and he told that the hegemony of China regarding the same can be
made dilemma for the European Capitalist states (Jackson and Krasner 2014).
It is no doubt to state that as a political scientist, he had made certain remarkable role
in the field of international relations, his theories has certain loopholes or weak points. It has
been declared by him that the international institutions have failed to meet the requirements
properly and they are suffering from limitation of powers (Layne 2014). He also stated that
the policies make by the international institutions cannot be treated as a success and the
objectives and the steps taken by the international institutions were in vain. However, the
reality is quite different from his theory. It can be stated that the international institutions like
the United Nations or NATO has done certain great things regarding the maintenance of
peace and security. The role of the United Nations cannot be denied in case of resolving the
global political issues. It has been stated by many institutionalist researchers that United
Nation’s policies help to restrict the possibilities of Third World War.
It has been observed during the cold war, NATO takes certain principles on the liberal
democracy in the area of Central and Eastern Europe. United Nations has also taken certain
important policies to maintain the peace. This organisation has tried to resolve the
disputesamicably. The United Nation had helped the process to resolve the Korean crisis in
the year 1950. The institution has been struggling for the independency of the continents like

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Algeria and Morocco. The policy with Africa in the year 1960 has also give the organisation
a huge success. Furthermore, he had not analyse other related matters like cultural clash
between two regional or international states and only concentrated on the organisational
matters ( Johnson and Phil 2016).
Therefore, it can be stated that the theories of John plays an important role regarding
the international relations and he had made a huge research on the political field. His
predictions were sharp in nature and his books had achieved many awards. His statement
regarding the policies of China, Middle East countries were got huge success and it is a fact
that his theories on political hegemony reached certain distinction in the field of war politics.
His opinion regarding the international institutions are true as it is a fact that the decisions of
the institutions are not binding in nature and the member states will get choice to accept or
denied the decisions and hence it can be stated that the observations of John Mearsheimer
regarding the political institutions are acceptable. His theory was suffered from certain
discrepancies, but the other critiques had failed to prove the outcome of the power imbalance
and its impact on the international politics. John had rightly observed the detrimental effect of
the provoking nature of the strong states and held the power imbalance as the main reason for
war.

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