INTERNATIONAL REALISM AND THE SCIENCE OF POLITICS - THUCYDIDES, MACHIAVELLI, AND NEOREALISM

Contemporary structural realism, or ''neorealism,'' has become immense ly influential in the contemporary study of international relations, d ue in part to its claims to be more scientific than its predecessors. The realist tradition, however, has always laid claim to a species of scientific rigor. The arguments of the classical realists Thucydides a nd Machiavelli are used to assess the claims of contemporary realism t o be an advance over classical realism, and to investigate the relatio n between the science of politics and the ethical issues raised by rea lism in general.