Realism has been the
dominate theory of international relations since the second world war . Though
there are dissenters and radicals within this school of thought, all agree that realism is one and liberalism another. Realism is not an ideological position but it has remained central within international relation, despite series of
criticisms because it has succeeded in revising , reinventing and establishing
an indispensable relevance for its
perspective within other paradigms.
Idealism
has lost some of its major criticisms against realism. Marxist thinking now accepts some aspects of realist views. The state, vis-avis the class
analysis, has been accepted.
The continuing relevance of realism can be seen
in “neo-realism” or “structural
realism” which recognizes the
anarchical nature of world politics and the dominance of the nation-state in
the global political arena.