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Neoclassical Realism, the State, and Foreign Policy
Abstract
Neoclassical realism is an important new approach to international relations. Focusing on the interaction of the international system and the internal dynamics of states, neoclassical realism seeks to explain the grand strategies of individual states as opposed to recurrent patterns of international outcomes. This book offers the first systematic survey of the neoclassical realist approach. The editors lead a group of senior and emerging scholars in presenting a variety of neoclassical realist approaches to states' grand strategies. They examine the central role of the 'state' and seek to explain why, how, and under what conditions the internal characteristics of states intervene between their leaders' assessments of international threats and opportunities, and the actual diplomatic, military, and foreign economic policies those leaders are likely to pursue.
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“Turkey's 'EUropean' foreign policy in the Middle East is a testament to how attractive the liberal international world order is in the eyes of Turkish decision makers. 12”
From Turkish Foreign Policy in a Changing World Order (2019) · cites this paper as [12]
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Lake, D. A. (2011) · International Studies Quarterly · doi:10.1111/j.1468-2478.2011.00661.x · Cited by 387
“…they employ.9 This explains how numerous theories can co-exist and be unified within a single research tradition.10 9 For exemplars, see Mearsheimer (2001) on offensive realism, Waltz (1979), and Walt (1987) on defensive realism, and Lobell, Ripsman, and Taliaferro (2009) on neoclassical realism.”
The Making of Global International Relations: Origins and Evolution of IR at its Centenary
Acharya, A., & Buzan, B. (2019) · doi:10.1017/9781108647670 · Cited by 375
A Foreign Policy Analysis Perspective on the Domestic Politics Turn in IR Theory
Kaarbo, J. (2015) · International Studies Review · doi:10.1111/misr.12213 · Cited by 372
Lake, D. A. (2013) · European Journal of International Relations · doi:10.1177/1354066113494330 · Cited by 275
“8 See the debate between offensive (Mearsheimer 2001) and defensive realism (Waltz 1979), or that between classical realists (Morgenthau 1978), neorealists (Waltz 1979), and neoclassical realists (Lobell et al. 2009).”
BackgroundThe tragedy of offensive realism: Classical realism and the rise of China
Kirshner, J. (2010) · European Journal of International Relations · doi:10.1177/1354066110373949 · Cited by 234
“For recent contributions, see Lobell et al. (2009).”
Verbeek, B., & Zaslove, A. (2014) · European Political Science Review · doi:10.1017/s1755773914000319 · Cited by 177
“…Waltz, asserted that explaining states’ choices may need a theory of foreign policy that incorporates domestic players (Waltz, 1979: 122), a call currently taken up by the so-called neoclassical realists (Lobell et al., 2009; for an application to Italy, see Davidson, 2011; Cladi and Webber, 2011).”
Gerzhoy, G. (2015) · International Security · doi:10.1162/isec_a_00198 · Cited by 131
Realism versus Strategic Culture: Competition and Collaboration?
Glenn, J. G. (2009) · International Studies Review · doi:10.1111/j.1468-2486.2009.00872.x · Cited by 126
The Contested Selection of National Role Conceptions
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Barkin, J. S. (2010) · Cited by 108
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Ferguson, C. (2012) · Journal of Strategic Studies · doi:10.1080/01402390.2011.583153 · Cited by 90
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“On the variants, predictably: Waltz (1979), Mearsheimer (2001) and Lobell et al. (2009).”
Realism and the Common Security and Defence Policy
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“…costs (Bueno de Mesquita et al. 2003) and neo-classical realism’s conception of the executive who must bargain with domestic political actors to extract resources in order to respond to international pressures (Lobell et al. 2009) also see political-domestic structures as limits on security policy.”
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Kirshner, J. (2014) · World Politics · doi:10.1017/s0043887114000318 · Cited by 68
“…10.1017/S0043887114000318 2 neoclassical realism is essentially modified neorealism, and more accurately called neo-neorealism. for an overview, see lobell, ripsman, and Taliaferro 2009; and rose 1998. realist cousins, structural realism and neoclassical realism.2 all of these realisms share…”
BackgroundInfluentialElder Abuse: How the Moderns Mistreat Classical Realism1
Parent, J. M., & Baron, J. (2011) · International Studies Review · doi:10.1111/j.1468-2486.2011.01021.x · Cited by 67
Parent, J. M., & Rosato, S. (2015) · International Security · doi:10.1162/isec_a_00216 · Cited by 82
Neto, O. A., & Malamud, A. (2015) · Latin American Politics and Society · doi:10.1111/j.1548-2456.2015.00286.x · Cited by 70
“In the field of international relations, neoclassical realism is the theory that best grasps the interactions between domestic political explanations of a state’s foreign policy choices and systemic or structural (i.e., international) explanations (Rose 1998; Lobell et al. 2009).”
Pouponneau, F., & Mérand, F. (2017) · International Studies Quarterly · doi:10.1093/isq/sqw046 · Cited by 66
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Neoclassical Realism: Challengers and Bridging Identities
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Contessi, N. P. (2015) · Problems of Post-Communism · doi:10.1080/10758216.2015.1026788 · Cited by 59
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Russian Foreign Policy in the Realm of European Security through the Lens of Neoclassical Realism
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Darwich, M. (2017) · Democratization · doi:10.1080/13510347.2017.1307824 · Cited by 56
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“For a recent revisiting of realism, see Lobell et al. (2009).”
BackgroundTurkish Foreign Policy in a Changing World Order
OĞUZLU, H. T. (2019) · All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace · doi:10.20991/allazimuth.464076 · Cited by 49
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He, K. (2016) · The Pacific Review · doi:10.1080/09512748.2016.1201130 · Cited by 47
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“They include domestic interest groups (N. M. Ripsman 2009), resource extraction and domestic mobilisation capacity (Randall L. Schweller 2009), identity-related issues (Sterling-Folker 2009) to name but a few.”
BackgroundSchenoni, L. L., & Escudé, C. (2016) · Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional · doi:10.1590/0034-7329201600102 · Cited by 41
“In this sense, RP was a pioneer of Neoclassical Realism (Rose 1998, Lobell et al. 2009), a strand of realism that, beginning in the mid 1990s, started to open the ‘black box’ of the state to highlight relevant domestic differences among countries and criticize purely systemic interpretations of…”
International polarity and America's polarization
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Cusumano, E. (2015) · Journal of Strategic Studies · doi:10.1080/01402390.2014.1003638 · Cited by 39
Çuhadar, Ç. E., Kaarbo, J., Kesgin, B., et al. (2020) · Turkish Studies · doi:10.1080/14683849.2020.1724511 · Cited by 39
He, K., & Feng, H. (2023) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781009420570 · Cited by 45
Palestini, S., & Agostinis, G. (2015) · Journal of International Relations and Development · doi:10.1057/jird.2015.15 · Cited by 39
“The FPE is composed of the head of state (the president in the case of South American states), presidential advisors, high-level diplomats, and officials of the ministry of foreign affairs (Lobell et al. 2009).”
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Stoddard, E. (2013) · European Security · doi:10.1080/09662839.2013.775122 · Cited by 37
“See for example Rose (1998) Lobell et al. (2009) Luttwak (1998) Buzan et al (1993).”
BackgroundBalancing Power without Weapons
Lenihan, A. T. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316855430 · Cited by 40
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“The more intense economic competition between the “foreign policy executives” [44] (that is, the Trump and Xi administrations) needs to be perceived and assessed in our study.”
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Sørensen, C. T. N. (2013) · Asian perspective · doi:10.1353/apr.2013.0014 · Cited by 36
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Copeland, D. C. (2012) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781139096836.005 · Cited by 33
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LaRoche, C. D., & Pratt, S. F. (2017) · European Journal of International Relations · doi:10.1177/1354066117696561 · Cited by 30
“…should generate empirically testable hypotheses and predictive capacities in the manner of a scientific research paradigm (e.g. Elman and Elman, 1997; Foulon, 2015: 635–638, 649ff; Lobell et al., 2009; Lynn-Jones, 1995: 663–664; Ripsman et al., 2016; Rose, 1998; Taliaferro, 2001: 129–134).”
Complicating Commitment: Free Resources, Power Shifts, and the Fiscal Politics of Preventive War1
Donald, P. J. M. (2011) · International Studies Quarterly · doi:10.1111/j.1468-2478.2011.00682.x · Cited by 30
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Realist avenues to global International Relations
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Saudi Arabia as a Resurgent Regional Power
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Ye, X. (2019) · Journal of Current Chinese Affairs · doi:10.1177/1868102619876830 · Cited by 26
“In fact, some leading neoclassical realists – who frankly criticise the fact that there is no single neoclassical realist foreign policy theory but only a diversity of neoclassical realist theories – have recognised this problem (Lobell et al., 2009: 10).”
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Cumming, G. D., & Chafer, T. (2011) · Review of International Studies · doi:10.1017/s0260210511000027 · Cited by 23
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The Balance Strikes Back: Power, Perceptions, and Ideology in Georgian Foreign Policy, 1992–2014
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Colgan, J. D. (2021) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197546376.001.0001 · Cited by 27
Kropatcheva, E. (2012) · European Security · doi:10.1080/09662839.2011.640323 · Cited by 22
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BackgroundThe Military-Industrial Complex and US Military Spending After 9/11
Cox, R. W. (2014) · Class Race Corporate Power · doi:10.25148/crcp.2.2.6092117 · Cited by 20
Mellander, M., & Mouritzen, H. (2016) · Cooperation and Conflict · doi:10.1177/0010836716652427 · Cited by 19
“Neoclassical realism embedding psychological or other theories in systemic perspectives is one answer to this requirement (e.g. Lobell et al., 2009).”
The Italian foreign policy: challenges and continuities
Isernia, P., & Longo, F. (2017) · Italian Political Science Review/Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica · doi:10.1017/ipo.2017.9 · Cited by 19
Reconciliation and the Remaking of Anarchy
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Lobell, S. E., Taliaferro, J. W., & Ripsman, N. M. (2012) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781139136808.001 · Cited by 19
Realism in the ethics of immigration
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“They do so because they believe that ‘ invoking this label may risk diverting analytic energies away from the complex particularities of real political problems ’ – the implication being that bringing neorealism to bear on the problem of immigration risks making the discussion too abstract and…”
BackgroundManaging Convergence: German Military Doctrine and Capabilities in the 21st Century
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Darwich, M., & Kaarbo, J. (2019) · International Relations · doi:10.1177/0047117819870238 · Cited by 25
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Resnick, E. N. (2010) · International Security · doi:10.1162/isec_a_00026 · Cited by 18
Russian–American relations: From Tsarism to Putin
Ziegler, C. E. (2014) · International Politics · doi:10.1057/ip.2014.32 · Cited by 17
“Drawing on neoclassical realism (Zakaria, 1998; Layne, 2009; Lobell et al, 2009; Schweller, 2009), I argue that the level of antipathy between Russia and the United States is more than great power competition, as a structural realist approach (Waltz, 1979) would contend.”
BackgroundMagcamit, M. (2019) · Asian Journal of Comparative Politics · doi:10.1177/2057891119882769 · Cited by 17
“Hence, while countries may more or less have the same amount of capabilities, it is possible for them to behave and act differently due to their structural differences (Lobell et al., 2009; Rose, 1998).”
BackgroundKakhishvili, L. (2021) · Post-Soviet Affairs · doi:10.1080/1060586x.2020.1869455 · Cited by 17
The inefficiency of EU leverage in Serbia during the Russia-Ukraine war
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Public Contestation and Policy Resistance: Canada's Oversized Military Commitment to Afghanistan
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European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Senhoras, E. M. (2008) · Cited by 17
Neoclassical Realism and Foreign Policy Analysis – A Possible Way of Integration?
Kozub-Karkut, M. (2019) · Teoria Polityki · doi:10.4467/25440845tp.19.011.10294 · Cited by 15
“The unit-level variables might constrain or facilitate the states’ abilities to respond to the systemic imperatives (Lobell et al., 2009, p. 4).”
BackgroundInfluentialThe international system and the Syrian civil war
Phillips, C. (2022) · International Relations · doi:10.1177/00471178221097908 · Cited by 16
Iksan, M., & Soong, J.-J. (2022) · Chinese Economy · doi:10.1080/10971475.2022.2136696 · Cited by 16
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Morgado, N. (2023) · European Journal of Geography · doi:10.48088/ejg.n.mor.14.4.013.021 · Cited by 16
Carranza, M. E. (2014) · Foreign Policy Analysis · doi:10.1111/fpa.12065 · Cited by 16
Metadata
- Venue
- Cambridge University Press eBooks
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- Published
- 2009-01-15
- OpenAlex
- W594028123
- Cited by
- 691
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 42 · 2025: 49 · 2024: 49 · 2023: 39 · 2022: 88 · 2021: 46 · 2020: 47 · 2019: 40 · 2018: 51 · 2017: 35 · 2016: 34 · 2015: 35 · 2014: 32 · 2013: 26 · 2012: 33
- FWCI
- 44.86
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Cambridge University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › International Relations and Foreign Policy
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Science Research and Education
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › History and International Relations
- Keywords
- neoclassical realism, state theory, grand strategy, foreign policy, international system, military policy, international economic policy, international relations theory
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