To What Extend Complex Interdependence Theorists Challenge to Structural Realist School of International Relations?

• Published in: Alternatives (Istanbul, Turkey) Vol. 3; no. 2-3; pp. 130 - 156
• Main Author: Isiksal, Huseyin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.07.2004
• Subjects: Foreign Policy; International Relations; Paradigms; Political Science Theories; Post Cold War Period; Realism; Security; Structuralism
• ISSN: 1303-5525; 1303-5525

It is contended that Robert O. Keohane & Joseph S. Nye's (1977) complex interdependence model provides a superior perspective to understanding contemporary international relations than that offered in Kenneth Waltz's (1979) structural realist paradigm. Detailed overviews of Waltz's & Keohane & Nye's respective approaches are provided, emphasizing the respective paradigms' understanding of security concerns within the international order. Four areas in which complex interdependence challenges the structural realist model's comprehension of security issues are then illuminated; for instance, it is asserted that Keohane & Nye's concept offers a better framework for understanding changes in states' motives for pursuing particular foreign policy orientations & properly acknowledges the influence that various international organizations & institutions impact the direction of states' foreign policy. It is concluded that the complex interdependence paradigm proved especially useful in predicting the substantial foreign policy changes enacted by certain states following the cessation of the Cold War. J. W. Parker