Any perspective in the field of world politics is used to explain the cause or end of an event or fact. The realist perspective focuses on the struggle for power between the weak and the strong, anarchy, and just power in general. On September 11, 2001, four planes were hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists and crashed into The World Trade Center’s two towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania in the morning. The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, at least in the eyes of the realist perspective, were caused by a hegemony being present during that time, which caused instability in the balance of power.
In a realist view, hegemony provides instability and upsets the balance of power. There are different explanations for the cause of the 9/1l attacks. For example, Nau states, “The weak in the case of the 9/11 attacks are Al Qaeda terrorists, or nonstate actors coming from the individual level of analysis'”(Nau, 6). Using the individual level of analysis, the realist perspective thinks that the individual terrorists are the weak in this struggle for power. The individual level of analysis also states that the cause of the 9/11 attacks is the individual terrorists plotting against the United States.
Another example is, “Or, if we think more broadly still and argue that the weak refers to the poor Muslim countries dominated in the Middle East and elsewhere by the strong western powers, we might decide the cause is coming from the distribution of power in the international system as a whole..”(Nau, 6). This quote is sowing the 9/11 attacks through the systemic level of analysis. The full explanation is that Muslim countries were opposing U.S. oppression in the region/world. The realist explanation for the cause of the 9/11 attacks is that a hegemony’s presence upsetting the balance of power and causing instability. Another theory of the realist perspective is the concept of anarchy, or decentralized power and authority. To realists, the distribution of power is always decentralized or anarchic. For example, Kenneth Waltz states, “Anarchy is taken to mean not just the absence of government, but also the presence of disorder and chaos”(Waltz, 105). This simple concept of all realist perspectives shows that anarchy is a serious concept of international politics and that it leaves the states in a bad place.
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A theory that the realist perspectives all think about when talking about world politics is anarchy. The concept of anarchy is needed to understand the cause of any event, according to realists. It’s used to explain events like the 9/11 attacks, for one. For example, a realist explanation for the 9/11 attacks could be that decentralized authority in the Afghan state could have caused them. This explanation shows that the structure of that Afghan state is experiencing problems and has no real form of government, which comes from the structural systemic level of analysis. Anarchy can be the cause for war, chaos, and political unrest. Another concept in the realist perspective’s arsenal is the concept of self-help. Self-help is when a weakened or developing country relies solely on its own resources and materials to build up their government and to survive in general. For example, this author says, “Each state is responsible for its own survival and is free to define its own interests and to pursue power.
Anarchy thus leads to a situation in which power has the overriding role in shaping interstate relations”(SEP, Paragraph 7). This quote shows that when in an anarchic system, power is the main factor to shape international relations. It also shows that self-help is a general and always present concept in international relations. So, overall, self-help is the situation when a country needs to survive, but either doesn’t trust or doesn’t have a choice to ask for help, so they help themselves. Self-help, honestly wasn’t that prominent in the 9/11 attacks, either cause or outcome, but it is still a concept in there. After 9/11, the weakened America had to restore itself and was placed in a mild semi-self-help period. For example, an explanation from the realist perspective states that America restored itself quickly after the attacks and retaliated with the call of the Iraq War in 2003. This shows that the semi-self-help period ended quickly and allowed growth and thought to circulate through the country.
So, self-help was practiced barely in America after the 9/11 attacks, but it was still apparent. The struggle for power, as you know, is a realist perspective’s theory. The struggle for power between the Afghan state and AI Qaeda is what realists say caused the 9/11 attacks. For example, Nau states, “However, if we emphasize the Taliban government in Afghanistan, where Al Qaeda trained, we might be thinking of weak or failed states that have been taken over internally by terrorists and conclude that the cause is coming from the domestic level of analysis”(Nau, 6). This quote shows that the domestic level of analysis explains that the Taliban takeover of the weak Afghan state is the cause of the 9/11 attacks, at least in a realist view.
The powerful, in that case, the Taliban, took over the weak, the Afghan states, and did so in a struggling way. Finally, there are many theorized causes to 9/11 from many other perspectives, but the realist perspective claims that power has much to do with it. Also, the levels of analysis each look at a different aspect that further explains the causes of 9/11. In a realist perspective, power is basically everything and when put to explaining causes and outcomes, it is extremely apparent in those explanations.
Works Cited
Wikipedia, July 23, 2013, “International relations theory”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/lnternational relations_theory
Nau, Henry, S., Perspectives On International Relations: Third Edition. cQ Press,
Washington DC, 2012. Print
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, July 23, 2013, “Political Realism in
International Relations”, W. Julian Korab-Karpowicz:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/realism-intl-relations!
Waltz, Kenneth, N., The Anarchic Structure of World Politics, Pearson, New Jersey,
2013. Print
Jervis, Robert, Art, Robert, International Politics: Enduring Concepts and
Contemporary Issues: Eleventh Edition, Pearson, New Jersey, 2013
