PAKISTAN'S RELATIONSHIP WITH INDIA?

Agree or disagree: Does Realism explain Pakistan's relationship with India?

Agree or disagree: Does Realism explain Pakistan's relationship with India?

Thesis Statement

Yes, I agree that realism explain Pakistan's relationship with India.

Introduction

In understanding the realism view of international security one must first accept that within this ideology the major players are considered to be the sovereign states that in themselves are the only actors in society and therefore that they, and only they, are important. Realists view the essence of international security as a system in which nation-states are competing for self-help purposes within an anarchical arena, and that above all else, power is what creates, defines and embodies the international community that in itself only exists by the maintenance of the composite states and their relations to one another. (Symonds, 2005)

Throughout the Cold War period, South Asia served as a strategic region in the bilateral rivalry between the United States and the former Soviet Union, coupled with China's careful scrutiny. In the post-Cold War period, several bilateral conflicts-including the nuclear tests of 1998 and the post-9/11 world in which South Asia has become a breeding ground for terrorists-entwined with an embattled, albeit a shared history, continue to make India and Pakistan a pivotal region to study. A timely analysis that starts with traditional approaches and combines them with new thinking within a human security policy framework, this book will contribute to a deeper and more holistic understanding of policy priorities of major players in a pivotal region of the world. (Wolpert, 2006) It begins by analyzing security policies of India and Pakistan that have emerged in the context of geo-political concerns based on realist calculations. It also looks at the policies of the two governments in key areas such as the economy, education, public health, and safeguarding against gender-based violence. Concern with human security prompts analyses such as the one adopted in this book to argue that governments should empower and protect their citizens from serious threats to their survival. Home to a fifth of the world's population, large numbers of whom are reeling in poverty, where terrorism continues to be a concern, along with ongoing border disputes, India and Pakistan will find it imperative to make careful evaluations of this multipronged challenge to security.

Discussion

The emphasis that realism places upon power is something that is key to their view of security in international society. However, with that being the case, it is not simply the maintenance of power that is important, it is the fact that this power has to be maintained in an international balance that is considered key to the theory, whether that is against a hegemonic power or whether it be on a region vs. region or state vs. state basis. Examples of such power balance are clearly evident throughout history, e.g. the USSR vs. USA in the cold war and the resulting Warsaw Pact and NATO alliances yet this remains apparent in smaller scale conflicts like the alignment of arms on the North and South Korea ...