Can the war on terror be understood in terms of realism Essay

Can the war on terror be understood in terms of realism - Essay Example These are some of the questions that this paper seeks to address. In the quest to understand and clearly explain the understanding of war on terror from a realist’s angle this paper shall be divided into six main parts. Part I shall be introductory chapter. Here the will be no deep analysis but rather introducing the subject matter. Here the paper shall be generally giving an overview of what shall be later broken down and explained in nitty gritty. The second Part is dealing with Realism as a school of thought. Here the paper shall delve into what actually is the scope of the realism school of thinking. The paper shall also discuss the proponents of this school of thought as well as their contributions. The third part shall be tackling war on terror itself. Here the paper talks about what components are considered when we are discussing the war on terror. The paper shall examine why is it that terrorism is treated as a war and not just a crime. The next part shall be assessing the dilemma that exists between war on terror against the desire to protect human rights and the rule of law. Why is it that the proponents of realism theory especially on war on terror are normally in conflicting opinions with the human rights activists? After the analysis the paper gives position as to how human rights can be understood from the realist’s perspective. ... This awareness has quite increased since the 9/11 bombing by Al Qaeda. This was not the first bombing as there had been others. However, after that the American government declared war on terror the question being asked is whether the average American feels safer than before or if there is paranoia. This war on terror extended to Afghanistan. For sometime people that this war would only lasts a few days or months but it took years. Some analysts began to view it as a political war. Then the human rights activists began questioning the legitimacy of the means by which this war on terror was generally being conducted. Debates emerged trying to explain the reasons and rationale for the wars. Several schools of thought emerged. Realism also emerged but has faced criticisms from other scholars especially whose with a bias towards human rights activism. What relationship is created between realism theory and the war on terror? Some scholars such Mearsheimer argues that war on terror is act uated by the fact threats exist and people are not safer than earlier before. It is for the this reason that Meiseshemier actually propounds that united states have used the realism school of thought as United State requires security. This is the reality according to Mearsheimer. Stephen D. Kranshen propounds that realism is all about international relations. These two theories as much as they are from the same realist angle they vary in meaning. However a critical analysis shows that there is a nexus between these two. 3.0 Realism as a school of reasoning Realism is a school of thought which in political science and a philosophical sense seeks to offer explanation on the foreign policy that has remained consistent and is still existent over a