Robert Keohane's neorealism: systems, structure, and international anarchy
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¶ … neorealism and its critics as written by Robert Keohane. The author of this response is required to give eight citations from said book while answering the four questions. The questions, in order, are the nature of a system, how to evaluate the scientific value of a research program, why Waltz rejects reductionism and the distinction between structures and units.
Nature of a System
Keohane held that an international system is anarchic rather than hierarchic (Keohane, 1986). He went on to say that certain and specific issues do not themselves become prominent because of the wide array of different issues that people/states deem to be important (Keohane, 1986). Keohane advanced the gheory of hegemonic stability theory whereby a system would (or would not) be stable in a post-war situation and that the United States would take a less pronounced role in the same (Keohane, 1986).
Scientific Value of Research Programs
Keohane made clear his overall viewpoint on the form and function of research (Keohane, 1986). He suggested doing scientific reviews in the broadest sense (Keohane, 1986). He suggested posing a question of causality and then reviewing whether a causal link existed as it pertains to the research question at hand (Keohane, 1986). Keohane was not hung up on the finding of objective truth and focused a bit more on wider agreement of the descriptive facts pertaining to an issue (Keohane, 1986).
Waltz Rejection of Reductionism
One major complaint that Waltz has/had with reductionism is that looking at the "behavior of parts" makes it impossible to assess world politics with a realistic and comprehensive viewpoint (Keohane, 1986). He argued that looking at the inner working of nation states, or as he stated the "behavior of units," was counter-productive to assessing a system of nation states as a whole (Keohane, 1986). Instead, Waltz argued that one must look at the greater system in play rather than the individual "units" so as to be able to make realistic and correction conjectures and theories about world politics (Keohane, 1986).
Difference between Structure & Units
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- Keohane, R. O. (1986). Neorealism and its critics. New York: Columbia University Press.
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