Waltz,Realism and Democracy

Abstract

Waltz is generally seen as one the most important advocates of a systemic theory of international politics that stresses the importance of international anarchy and marginalizes domestic politics. Locating Waltz’s thinking against debates within realism in the 1950s, and drawing especially on his neglected Foreign Policy and Democratic Politics, this article argues that Waltz’s thinking actually contains powerful domestic political dimensions that centre on a defence of democratic foreign policymaking. Rather than marginalizing domestic politics, Waltz’s theory — and his critique of classical realism — is in part actually a subtle intervention in domestic politics.