Is Realism Policy Relevant? Evidence from Ukraine and Taiwan

Summary

The war in Ukraine has provided yet another opportunity for critics to highlight the weaknesses of the paradigm and critique its explanation for the outbreak of the war. [...] The case in of the Iraq war best illustrates the controversy regarding the explanatory value of realism as well Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, as revealing the shortsightedness of the criticisms. [...] In the case of Ukraine, the The invasion of Ukraine fueled the criticism of realism still further. [...] Regardless of the disagreements over the implementation of realism, its value remains in its ability to account for conditions that are likely to disrupt the stability of the international system. [...] Scholars are divided over the future of the global system in the wake of the war in Ukraine: some argue that the global system will return to its more anarchic roots, while others disagree and state that the rules-based international order will continue to influence the behavior of states.