On International Relations, Theory, and Practice: A Special Interview With Professor Stephen Walt
This week, MUNPlanet celebrates its first birthday and brings you a special Fridays With MUNPlanet interview with professor Stephen Walt (Harvard University), one of the most influential and distinguished International Relations scholars in the world. In the interview, professor Walt discusses the state of world politics and international security, the crisis in Ukraine and the US “Pivot to Asia”, reflects on the state of IR theory, and gives advice to young scholars and future leaders from the Model UN community on how to start their careers.
MUNPlanet: Professor Walt, what is the state of the relationship between theory and policy in international relations? Is theory today more relevant for practice than 10 years ago, when you wrote the article on this subject?
Stephen Walt: Theory is always relevant — indeed, essential — for policymaking. The world is infinitely complex, and we all rely on mental maps to tell us what is most important and how key elements are connected. A good theory helps us identify the key causal relationships in a given setting, and helps us formulate policy responses that are more likely to produce the desired result. Whether they know it or not, policymakers are always using some sort of crude theory to make decisions; one task of scholars is to get policymakers better ways to understand the world so that leaders can make better choices.
MUNPlanet: What can the crisis in Ukraine tell us about the theory and practice of IR: did Realism “strike back” after the “offensive” by Liberalism and Constructivism?
Stephen Walt: When the Cold War ended, there was a brief period where a few politicians and a few scholars naively believed power politics was over, realism was irrelevant, and that globalization and the spread of democracy would usher in a tranquil liberal world order. It would have been nice if this had been true, but instead we have seen power politics come back with a vengeance. The conflict in Ukraine is one obvious example, and so is China’s growing assertiveness in East Asia. Also, we should not forget that the United States has been throwing its weight around for quite some time, and pretty much ignoring international law when it suited it. Sadly, realism remains all too relevant to contemporary world politics.
MUNPlanet: “Pivot to Asia”: How do you see the situation in Asia and the U.S. foreign policy in this region? Can we say Asian international system has reached a level of mature anarchy which could write off any major world war in the coming decades?
Stephen Walt: I think a major world war is unlikely, because virtually everyone understands that the costs would be enormous and would outweigh any possible gains. That is partly due to the economic consequences, but also due to the shadow cast by nuclear weapons. So I have trouble imagining a deliberate attempt to launch a world war, such as occurred in 1914 or 1939. But I also believe we will see growing competition between the United States and China, as well as continued tensions in the Middle East and Eurasia, and these conflicts could escalate to a level that no leader originally intends. Sadly, history provides all too many examples of this sort of process.
“I think a major world war is unlikely, because virtually everyone understands that the costs would be enormous and would outweigh any possible gains… But I also believe we will see growing competition between the United States and China, as well as continued tensions in the Middle East and Eurasia, and these conflicts could escalate to a level that no leader originally intends.”
“…we have seen power politics come back with a vengeance. The conflict in Ukraine is one obvious example, and so is China’s growing assertiveness in East Asia. Also, we should not forget that the United States has been throwing its weight around for quite some time, and pretty much ignoring international law when it suited it. Sadly, realism remains all too relevant to contemporary world politics.”
MUNPlanet: We live in the ’risk society,’ to use the reference to Ulrich Beck. One gets the impression that non-military and non-economic risks and threats are not given enough attention in world politics. Why is that so, and is that actually a threat to the world?
Stephen Walt: That’s a great question. First, I think we underestimate some dangers because they just aren’t as vivid or dramatic and so they don’t get as much attention from the media. More people die from car crashes or household accidents than from terrorism, for example, but terrorism is sudden and shocking and involves deliberate acts of violence, and so it captures enormous attention. Second, there are various groups in society who have a vested interest in inflating threats. The media does this because it gets more people buying papers or watching the news, and the foreign policy establishment and military do this because it justifies pouring more resources into trying to manage distant parts of the planet.
MUNPlanet: What would be your advice to students of International Relations as to how best start their careers after they graduate? What is the importance of theory for careers?
Stephen Walt: Not everyone is cut out to be a theorist, but students of IR need to have a sophisticated knowledge of theory and to use it in their work, even if their work is largely empirical. Without a solid theoretical foundation, it is hard to do useful and valid empirical work. My general advice to students at the beginning of their careers is to focus on big and important questions that are likely to be of enduring interest, rather than on today’s fad, and be prepared to work really hard for a decade or more to establish yourself.
*Interviewed by Marko Kovačević. Author would like to thank Mr Dragan Živojinović (University of Belgrade, Faculty of Political Sciences) for his valuable comments. Photographs: Courtesy of Stephen Walt
