The Origins of War in Neorealist Theory

// Journal of Interdisciplinary History. – Vol.18 (1988), P.615-628.Like most historians, many students of international politics have been skeptical about the possibility of creating a theory that might help one to understand and explain the international events that interest us. Thus Morgenthau, foremost among traditional realists, was fond of repeating Blaise Pascal's remark that "the history of the world would have been different had Cleopatra's nose been a bit shorter" and then asking "How do you systemize that? " His appreciation of the role of the accidental and the occurrence of the unexpected in politics dampened his theoretical ambition.