Neorealism and Its Critics As Journal

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He argued that looking at the inner working of nation states, or as he stated the "behavior of units," was counter-productive to assessing a system of nation states as a whole (Keohane, 1986). Instead, Waltz argued that one must look at the greater system in play rather than the individual "units" so as to be able to make realistic and correction conjectures and theories about world politics (Keohane, 1986).

Difference between Structure & Units

In a neorealism context, the difference between structure and units is fairly clear. The basic structure of a structure is usual anarchic in nature whereas the individual nation states (the units) are biased towards survival and their ongoing success (Keohane, 1986).
Because there is no singular international body that clearly and unquestionably regulates the activities of all nation states, there is a basic anarchic nature to the structure as a whole even if the individual units have some sort of regulation and government firmly in place (Keohane, 1986).

Conclusion

In short, both Waltz and Keohane made clear that the world as we knew it then and know it now is a mix of anarchy and structure. Any illusion of civility and structure in a single nation state does not extend to the international sphere…not in the slightest. This is the basic view of neorealists like Keohane......

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