Recollecting a lost dialogue: Structural Realism meets neoclassical realism
| Date | 01 September 2019 |
| Author | Keith Smith |
| DOI | 10.1177/0047117819834636 |
| Published date | 01 September 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0047117819834636
International Relations
2019, Vol. 33(3) 494 –513
© The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/0047117819834636
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Recollecting a lost dialogue:
Structural Realism meets
neoclassical realism
Keith Smith
King’s College London, UK
Abstract
Since its appellation, much work has sought to consolidate neoclassical realism. Specifically,
a number of variations on the neoclassical theme have reconceptualised the third-image and
carved out a distinctly European neoclassical variant. This article contributes by recollecting the
Structural Realism of Logic of Anarchy. In unpacking Structural Realism’s framework and dissecting
its engagement with inter alia Kenneth Waltz, this article illustrates the importance of Logic’s
conceptualisation of the system, particularly in terms of anarchy’s logic. This framework can
enrich a number of debates within the neoclassical realist community, especially concerning third-
image change and the possibility of a neoclassical realism in and of Europe, while also contributing
to debates regarding the strategic actor-ness of the European Union. While Logic and its
framework might appear dated, the article submits that one of its principal motifs, anarchy, along
with realism’s normative ethos may remind us of International Relation’s (IR’s) healthy pluralism.
Keywords
Barry Buzan, neoclassical realism, realism, Structural Realism
Introduction
The ‘r’ word is back, if it ever went anywhere. International disturbances have certainly
played a part in this.1 Riding this wave, while hoping that it will ebb, this article never-
theless urges caution. Realism is a slippery and elusive tradition. Critics and adherents
often use realism as a synonym for Realism.2 Rather than hacking away at an abstract, I
engage with a specific form of Structural Realism drawn from Logic of Anarchy. Logic
engaged with yet extended Kenneth Waltz’s Theory of International Politics.3 Given
Corresponding author:
Keith Smith, Department of Political Economy, King’s College London, Bush House (North East), London
WC2B 4BG, UK.
Email: Keith.Smith@kcl.ac.uk
834636IRE0010.1177/0047117819834636International RelationsSmith
research-article2019
Article
Smith 495
debates surrounding contemporary realism, recollecting Logic is now apropos.
Neoclassical realism’s promise, according to its adherents, rests in its capacity for unit-
ing realism’s structural and classical wings. This promise is incomplete for it has over-
looked the utility of Logic’s own Structural Realism. While neoclassical realists may
baulk at this article’s subtitle, my view, with its justification elaborated below, is that this
is a necessary meeting point. In the context of engaging with Waltz’s successors, the
article recollects the engagement that Barry Buzan, Charles Jones and Richard Little
undertook with Waltz.
A second note of caution is warranted. This intervention is not a disciplining endeav-
our. I do not wish to privilege realism or reassert anarchy as International Relation’s (IR)
reason for existence. If we do inhabit a pluralist discipline, then there is scope for this
mode of theorising. The article begins by specifying tradition, dialogue and synthesis as
scholarly practices. The article then outlines the development of the neoclassical realist
school/approach. It suggests that attempts at developing a European variant of this have
overlooked Structural Realism’s earlier attempt to engage with American discourses.
After outlining Logic’s engagement with Waltz and his interlocutors, the article reflects
on why we should recollect this period of IR scholarship. Structural Realism, particularly
functional difference, has much to offer both neoclassical realism and the literature on
the European Union’s (EU) growing strategic competencies.
Traditions, dialogue and synthesis
Reappraising European IR Theoretical Traditions is a recent attempt at mapping
European IR.4 The text provides a seven-point framework for approaching European IR
(diversity, reflexivity, traditions, Europe, discipline, reconstruction and hegemony). This
framework can be distilled to two claims. First, there is no intellectual hegemony in the
IR discipline; instead IR is composed of different communities independent of the core,
each producing localised knowledge. Second, and related, scholars working within the
field should reconstruct and be reflexive towards European IR as the route to positional
self-understanding. In terms of the first claim, Knud Erik Jørgensen et al. disaggregate
hegemony into its institutional and intellectual components. Drawing from Helen Louise
Turton, they find little evidence supporting the claim that American concerns are domi-
nant.5 This is because, from a sociological and structural perspective, IR’s practices are
negotiated locally.6 As Turton writes, ‘Within different national IR communities … “IR”
is organized in divergent ways’.7 In terms of the second claim, Jørgensen et al. call for a
reconstruction of European theorists in their relevant contexts.8 The reasons for this are
two-fold. First, European scholars have not reflected on their own past as much as they
should have, and that a concrete understanding of European IR and its voices is required
for dialogue.9 Second, reconstructing European IR provides a wider opportunity to desta-
bilise truisms about IR’s intellectual origins.10
In terms of the latter, the example utilised by Jørgensen et al. is the realist tradition,
arguing that the narrative linking realism’s emergence to the emergence of the IR disci-
pline in America overlooks realism’s European heritage.11 Tradition means to/a surren-
der, which explains unease with the term. This is compounded by the misuse of tradition.
Brian Schmidt distinguishes between analytical and historical traditions to refer to the
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