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The Progressive Power of Realism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Stephen M. Walt
Stephen M. Walt*
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
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Abstract

John Vasquez's assessment of realism suffers from three serious flaws. First, his reliance on Imre Lakatos's (1970) model of scientific progress is problematic, because the Lakatosian model has been largely rejected by contemporary historians and philosophers of science. Second, Vasquez understates the range and diversity of the realist research program and mistakenly sees disagreements among realists as evidence of theoretical degeneration. Finally, he overlooks the progressive character of contemporary realist theory, largely because he does not consider all the relevant literature. Disagreements within and across competing research programs are essential to progress and should be welcomed, but Vasquez's effort suggests that criticism will be most helpful when it seeks to do more than merely delegitimate a particular research tradition.

Type
Forum
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 91 , Issue 4 , December 1997 , pp. 931 - 935
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1997

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