Security Seeking under Anarchy: Defensive Realism Revisited

Abstract

Does the international system offer more incentives or disincentives for expansion? According to offensive realism, an anarchical international system strongly favors expansion. In contrast, defensive realism offers a more optimistic view: The international system provides incentives for expansion, but only under certain conditions. Tufts University’s Jeffrey Taliaferro puts forward four auxiliary variables—the security dilemma, structural modifiers such as the offense-defense balance, material power, and domestic politics—that he posits can help predict how structural variables influence international outcomes and states’ foreign policies.