Description
Can Realism be generalised such that it maintains its legacy while becoming fit for the future? Realism's demonstrated prowess and explanatory power for the past are rarely questioned. But it is increasingly criticised for its Western-centrism. Realism is believed to be incapable of grasping a changing world and of generating a positive outlook. If Realism takes to heart the criticism of rationalist approaches voiced in Ontological Security Studies (OSS), it can adapt and remain relevant after the end of the post-Cold War order Anthony Blinken has sensed.
OSS maintain that the structure within which states interact is not pre-given, but owes its existence to the actors' narration and|or enactment. However, OSS have not yet proposed a full-fledged alternative to IR's mainstream approaches. This is possibly due to OSS having not yet integrated the concept of power into their analytical frameworks. Here, a model of the international system is built inductively from OSS literature. It is based on the assumption that an agent's power is reflected in their impact on the generation of the international system. The proposed is not only suited for the analysis of alternative orders, but also compatible with close readings of ur-Realists Thucydides and Hobbes.
