...Right realism advocates ‘small’ government and considers the phenomenon of crime from the perspective of political conservatism. Right realism assumes it takes a more realistic view of the causes of crime and deviance. Right realists believe crime and deviance are a real social problem that requires practical solutions. It is said that right realism perpetuates moral panics as a means of swaying the public to agree with their views. For example, the media claims that elderly people are scared to be attacked when venturing out, when in actuality crimes against OAP’s are minimal. (0.3 against men 75+ and 0.2 against women aged the same). Right realists believe that official statistics often underreport crime. But right realists believe they are able to paint a more realistic picture of crime and deviance in the UK. Right realists believe that crime is a growing social problem and is largely committed by lower working class male juveniles, often black, in inner city areas. Right realists believe that there are six causes of crime: The breakdown in moral fabric of society; a growing underclass in the UK; a breakdown in social order; opportunity for crime and that some people commit crime as a deliberate and rational choice. As more crime is committed, society itself deteriorates and this in turn leads to more crime. Marsland in 1988 stated that crime and deviancy is linked to the breakdown in the moral fabric of society. Schools and religion have become less effective...
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...Theatrical Realism Theatrical Realism is the attempt of playwrights to mirror reality on the stage. That is to say, these playwrights intend for the audience to see themselves on the stage without fanfare – a stripped-down form of theatrical arts. Realistic theatre does not possess the magical elements of theatre that preceded it, but this is the strength of realism. Anton Chekhov echoes this point, “I wanted to tell people honestly: ‘Look at yourselves. See how badly you live and how tiresome you are.’ The main thing is that people should understand this. When they do, they will surely create a new and better life for themselves”. Realistic playwrights stood on the shoulders of the giants of theatre who preceded them by continuing to look at their times and people, but shattered new earth by asking audiences to look in to themselves. Realism is theatre in which people move and talk in a similar manner to that of our everyday behavior. The style has been dominant for the last 120 years. It holds the idea of the stage as an environment, and not just an acting platform. Some of the ideas flourishing in realism’s formative years were Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species and Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto. Both of these works profoundly impacted the intelligentsia. They called into question the foundations on which the people of the world had built their truths. Marx, especially, can be seen as an important figure of the realistic movement as he sought to awaken the working...
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...AFRICAN PRINCE Justifying African State Leaders’ Decisions Through Machiavellian Realism Safir Jamal Copyright 2008 – All Rights Reserved THE AFRICAN PRINCE Safir Jamal Ambrose Bierce defined politics as “the conduct of public affairs for private advantage” (Jansson 468). When this nineteenth century American journalist expressed such a sardonic view about the art of governance, he alluded to the inseparability of politics and self-interest. This inseparability forms the foundation of classical realism, a prominent international relations theory that attests that human nature is self-serving, sinful and wicked. Such traits ultimately help to explain why all actors endeavour to satisfy their individual intentions (Sens 14). While principles of self-interest are central to the classical realist theory, it is the importance of power that has become widely synonymous with the realist perspective. Defined as the ability to make other actors do what they would not otherwise do, the pursuit of power is an instinctive desire of all individuals (Singer 81). One individual in particular, Niccolo Machiavelli, had arguably the most profound understanding in history of the importance of power (Kuper 1). In his acclaimed treatise The Prince, Machiavelli, a 15th century Florentine diplomat, advised state leaders – or princes – on effective approaches to statecraft. As an extension of classical realism, Machiavellian views have proven to be timeless and universal, as they have been identified...
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...I-Introduction: The term "realism" was first used to formulate the philosophical doctrine that "universals exist outside of the mind" (Freyberg-Inan, 1). Yet, in political theory, "realism" represents a school of thought that analyzes the political process as it is or as it is disclosed by historical forces " ... that the able political practitioner takes into account ... and incorporates ... into his political conceptions and his political acts "(Ibid, 1-2). In the field of international relations, realism became the dominant analytical paradigm mostly after the start of the Second World War, when it displaced idealist doctrines, promising "to provide more accurate information, more powerful, and more relevant answers" to the roots or causes of peace and war (Brecher& Harvey, 54). At the same time, many features of the current realist paradigm can be traced back to the time of Thucydides, Niccolo Machiavelli and Thomas Hobbes. Among contemporary thinkers recognized as major writers and contributors to the realist tradition are Hans Morgenthau, Edward Carr and Kenneth Waltz (Freyberg-Inan, 8). What are then the basic tenets or common features of a realist thinker? Machiavelli would acknowledge that to be a realist one has to look at history as "a sequence of cause and effect whose course can be analysed and understood by intellectual effort, but not directed by imagination" (Carr, 64). Hobbes would persist in the same train of thought and insist that to be a realist thinker...
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...For realists, international society has no universal, hierarchically superior government that brings order to the world system. For this reason, states maintain a high degree of sovereignty, condemning intervention for all practical purposes and thus rejecting the existence of abstract natural laws that govern human behavior. Since there is no higher moral authority than the state itself, human rights are not deemed universal. In fact, a realist would argue that the UN Charter prohibits states from intervening in matters that are not explicitly contained in the domestic sphere, thus negating any claim to jurisdiction over citizens of another state. Due to these characteristics of realist theory, a follower of this school of thought would argue against intervention in Kiribati....
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...Realism is considered to be the dominant theory of International Relations because it explains the power struggle among states in the international system very well. From the realist point of view, the rule in this system is cruel, or we should say there is no rule in the operation of international relations because the only thing can be relied on is nations’ own power. Power is an important issue in realism. As Thucydides put it thousands years ago, “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”. The power they discuss here is not absolute power but relative power. It’s a concept that should be compared with other states. The interesting thing is that nothing seems to have been changed now. The international environment, in which obligation and personal emotions are set aside and the interests and survival of the states become top priorities, remains cruel as it used to be. Therefore, realists claim that pursuing power for a state is not only to fulfill its ambition but to survive. The question is why do nations need power to survive? To begin with, in realists’ definition, the state is the main actor in the international system. Though it might be city-state, empire, kingdom or tribe that represented the state at times, the point is this basic unit represents the collective will of people. (Dunne) To quest the good life of its people, the state needs power to fulfill the goal. In addition, realists believe the states operate in an anarchic system, in which...
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...their everyday lives and turned it into something systematic for the stage. The drama he tried to create was realism so that the audience could relate to the piece. He tried to put everyday feelings and emotions into his performance because it came across as realistic. Stanislavski spoke to a French psychologist and he said that when his patients were ill they would think happy/sad thoughts and that would help them to get better over time. So he incorporated this piece of information into his work and created naturalism. Naturalism is a movement in European drama and theatre that developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It refers to theatre that attempts to create an illusion of reality through a range of dramatic and theatrical strategies. Method acting is a technique used to show naturalism and realism in theatre, it’s often created by using emotional identification. Quotes by Constantin Stanislavski: 1. “The theatre is air and wine, which we must breathe in frequently and be intoxicated by.” 2. “The main factor in any form of creativeness is the life of a human spirit, that of the actor and his part, their joint feelings and subconscious creation.” 3. “The language of the body is the key that can unlock the soul.” I really like quote 3 because we can tell that Stanislavski is trying to point out that when you finally get the character right, the audience...
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...Suitable Realism Although realist artists attempt to convey a candid image of modern life, their tendencies to render a more relatable and aesthetically pleasing result exceeds their objective realities. In both Huysmans’ Against Nature and James’ The Real Thing, the protagonists seek a more evocative reality; one that transcends the boundaries of the objective and replaces the idea of what is natural with the more arousing powers of imagination. In James’ short story, using the real thing, defined by the true nature of Major and Mrs. Monarch, becomes irrelevant to his depiction as the figures rendered by the artist appear as uninhabited forms and in no way suggest the reality of their social stature. Instead, what in person appears artificial and inauthentic, two separate beings insignificant to the social realities of superiority in the eighteenth-century, embrace the dignified postures and mannerisms of high society to a higher degree than the Monarchs who in fact are the real thing. In Against Nature, Huysmans’ Des Esseintes escapes 19th century bourgeoisie society in a manufactured sanctuary, void of anything real or absolute. What is real outside of his retreat has no value, but his own reverie, contrived and artificial, creates a deeper and more emotional beauty. The characters of Charles Dickens, the women of Gustave Moreau, the artificial flowers, “fashioned by the hands of true artists,” encapsulate the essence of his imaginary reality. Transcending into Realist art...
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...During the era of regional realism, many writers sought to expose Americans to the culture and issues of the South and late 1800s. In their writings, there is a clear distinction between three groups of people: white males, blacks, and women. These stories display a power struggle between these groups, in which the white males dominate society, leaving blacks and women voiceless and oppressed. Regional realist writers took it upon themselves to expose and discourage the oppression of blacks and women they witnessed, thus challenging readers to grapple with these important socially radical issues. Although presented in several different fashions, in many regional regionalist writings, blacks are portrayed as victims in society. One way this oppression is exposed is through the trickster. The role of the trickster was to represent...
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...Realism in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Churchill’s Top Girls Nineteen-century Europe held rigid conventionalisms of class division, social order and gender roles. Society hid behind the mask of hypocrisy in an attempt to preserve bourgeoisie’s position of power. In that concern, conceptions of ‘liberty of the spirit’[1] and ‘liberty of thought and of the human condition’[2] came to question. Thus, Henrik Ibsen drew attention to the threat to ideas of freedom and public opinion by giving life to A Doll’s House (1879). He aimed to critique constraints of Victorian society rather than vindicating the rights of women. In that sense, in a speech given in his honour by the Norwegian Women’s Rights League on 26 May 1898 he stresses: ‘Whatever I have written has been without any conscious thought of making propaganda. […] To me it has seemed a problem of humanity in general.’[3] Ibsen clearly states he strove to expose the manipulation of individuals’ liberties as he worked for the human cause. In Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls (1982) the aim of the play is to reveal how the fulfilment of women’s self-realization needs in the personal and social spheres is achieved by compromising humanity and morality. In the end, what ‘The New Woman’ gets is disillusionment and loneliness as she finds herself in a predicament: mother or career woman, sensitive or hardened. In Top Girls what is represented is the price women pay to go up the corporate ladder in a male-dominant world. Thus, I will...
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...Real Book of a Realistic Story Huckleberry Finn is a very important example of realism because is one of the most well done novels using this technique and it had a great influence in the history of writing. “The adventure of Huckleberry Finn” is a novel by Mark Twain set in the 19th century in the south of USA along the Mississippi river. But what is Realism? It is a part of literature characterized by faithful representation of life, pessimistic mood and anti-heroic characters tormented by ethical dilemmas. As in many realistic novels, Huck Finn is characterized by real life experiences, the protagonist is an anti-hero and he is afflicted by dilemmas, usually about his ethic. Materialism and underlying drama are other important characteristics....
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...Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian Realism has many components to it. Post World War I, he moved away from his usual liberal/pacifist way of thinking after seeing that the war was based on power control and economical concerns, and this was something he did not want to support. He wanted to follow a more proactive way of doing things instead of just waiting for something to happen. Liberal’s pacifist way of thinking utilizing non-intervention ways to deal with evil in the world, could not be used anymore. “He argued that a chief reliance on the power of reason through education and moral suasion was naive and misplaced” (citation I). By doing nothing would allow evil to continue to control everything. Niebuhr also says humans in this world are self-glorifying, sinful in nature, and will never be equal to...
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...Since the publication of Kenneth Waltz’s Theory of International Politics in 1979, the classical school of realism, which suggests that state actions are driven by self-interest only, has been challenged by the school of “neoliberal institutionalism” and the idea that constructivism is a formidable school of thought in itself. This essay challenges the idea that “institutions” or “norms” guide the international system, rather arguing that classical realism, with elements of offensive realism, is what truly drives the international system, with states being the primary actors. While non-state actors (“NSA”) and transnational civil society is recognized as playing a part, it will be argued that it is ultimately the states that make the decisions. To this end the analysis will be from two different perspectives; the campaign against the anti-personnel landmines and the signing of the Ottawa treaty; and the rise of China despite ignoring “international norms” regarding human rights. Thus the analysis will be, first, an issue-based analysis and then an actor-based analysis. Landmines and the Ottawa Treaty Landmines have traditionally been used as an effective tool to prevent attacks by the enemy. Yet the downfall of having such a weapon in one’s arsenal is obvious, the weapon is indiscriminating; once set up it cannot and does not distinguish between soldier and civilian, thus leading to great civilian casualty and therefore seemingly going against the principles of just war ...
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...approaches are distinctly different in these areas. I will demonstrate that, in general, the Australian Labor Party can be associated with internationalist world-view, and the Australian Liberal Party with the realist world-view as they have had quite different approaches to these areas of Australian foreign policy. The international view called ‘realism’ is an idea that goes back at least as far as the ancient Greeks (Kegley & Shannon 2014: 23). The theory...
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...Where President Obama attempts to continue use of an applied realist approach, American foreign policy is littered with liberalist and constructivist approaches. As exampled by American reconstruction of Japan after WWII, applied liberalism approaches leverage diplomacy and build relationships that provide Obama a successful roadmap, despite his realist aspirations. Although the President did take a decidedly realist approach to relations with China and the “pivot to Asia”, U.S. interests are better served through liberalists method. What follows is a detailed analysis of President Obama as a realist, the shortfalls of his approach, where other approaches may be more appropriate, and lessons from a past President. The first tenet of Realism supports that history is a sequence of cause and effects. At the 2014 speech at West Point (USMA), President Obama illustrated this tenet with the...
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