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Roland Czada nimmt an, der russische Angriffskrieg gegen die Ukraine habe eine invariante Wahrheit der Weltpolitik enthüllt: Hard power sei im Zweifelsfall immer wichtiger als soft power. Dies bestätige die zentrale Annahme der "realistischen Theorie". Aber diese hat schwerwiegende Schwächen und kann auch die Entwicklung zum Krieg in der Ukraine nicht befriedigend erklären. Im Artikel wird für eine liberale Sichtweise plädiert, die uns heute dazu zwinge, realistisch, aber nicht "realistisch" im Sinne der gleichnamigen Theorie zu denken.

The realist theoretical tradition has never enjoyed a strong position in Europe. During recent decades, although it is commonly claimed otherwise, it even seems to have lost its limited traction and most of its relatively few representatives. The aim of the article is to analyse this evolution, highlight how realist theorists have contributed limited conceptual or theoretical innovation, been unable to adjust their research agenda to current analytical challenges, and produced relatively few comprehensive empirical studies informed by one or more realist theories. Instead, we observe three main activities. Some realists do meta-studies on realist theory. Others do retrospectives, for instance, (re-)discovering the qualities of classical realist scholars or classical concepts such as the security dilemma. Still others practice ideology that may enjoy certain functions in legitimising national foreign policy orientations but has limited theoretical quality. Thus, textbooks are probably the only remaining context in which realism is presented as constituting a dominant orientation; a fact that highlights the complex and problematic relationship between reality and representation.

The realist theoretical tradition has never enjoyed a strong position in Europe. During recent decades, although it is commonly claimed otherwise, it even seems to have lost its limited traction and most of its relatively few representatives. The aim of the article is to analyse this evolution, highlight how realist theorists have contributed limited conceptual or theoretical innovation, been unable to adjust their research agenda to current analytical challenges, and produced relatively few comprehensive empirical studies informed by one or more realist theories. Instead, we observe three main activities. Some realists do meta-studies on realist theory. Others do retrospectives, for instance, (re-)discovering the qualities of classical realist scholars or classical concepts such as the security dilemma. Still others practice ideology that may enjoy certain functions in legitimising national foreign policy orientations but has limited theoretical quality. Thus, textbooks are probably the only remaining context in which realism is presented as constituting a dominant orientation; a fact that highlights the complex and problematic relationship between reality and representation.

"Realism and constructivism, two key contemporary theoretical approaches to the study of international relations, are commonly taught as mutually exclusive ways of understanding the subject. Realist Constructivism explores the common ground between the two, and demonstrates that, rather than being in simple opposition, they have areas of both tension and overlap. There is indeed space to engage in a realist constructivism. But at the same time, there are important distinctions between them, and there remains a need for a constructivism that is not realist, and a realism that is not constructivist. Samuel Barkin argues more broadly for a different way of thinking about theories of international relations, that focuses on the corresponding elements within various approaches rather than on a small set of mutually exclusive paradigms. Realist Constructivism provides an interesting new way for scholars and students to think about international relations theory"--Provided by publisher

"Criminology has expanded significantly as an academic discipline, but it has been argued that it is becoming increasingly socially and politically irrelevant. This books aims to address this problem by rethinking the theoretical underpinnings and research methods we use, to form a criminology that is critical, engaged and useful. The left realist approach to criminology has changed considerably over the past twenty years and continues to make an important contribution to the theoretical study of crime, as well as issues such as crime prevention, policing, prisons, and community safety. As one of the pioneers of realist criminology, Roger Matthews presents a coherent overview of its development and continued relevance. By providing a critique of some of the dominant approaches in criminology, this book sets a new agenda for theoretical and practical engagement and will appeal to all those interested in making sense of contemporary forms of social control and developing types of analysis and intervention which are designed to produce a more effective and just criminal justice system. "--

Criminology has expanded significantly as an academic discipline, but it has been argued that it is becoming increasingly socially and politically irrelevant. This books aims to address this problem by rethinking the theoretical underpinnings and research methods we use, to form a criminology that is critical, engaged and useful. The left realist approach to criminology has changed considerably over the past twenty years and continues to make an important contribution to the theoretical study of crime, as well as issues such as crime prevention, policing, prisons, and community safety. As one of the pioneers of realist criminology, Roger Matthews presents a coherent overview of its development and continued relevance. By providing a critique of some of the dominant approaches in criminology, this book sets a new agenda for theoretical and practical engagement and will appeal to all those interested in making sense of contemporary forms of social control and developing types of analysis and intervention which are designed to produce a more effective and just criminal justice system.

Realism is an approach to humanity which recognizes the real existence of social objects as well as physical objects. Thus realism does involve being realistic. But more importantly, it asserts that the things we are studying in social research have some prior existence and would continue to exist even if our knowledge of them was limited. Indeed, sometimes our knowledge is quite wrong, and realists assert that the real world will tend to constrain science so that wrong claims get challenged