Neorealism, also known as structural realism, is a theory of international relations that emphasizes the role of power politics in international relations and sees competition and conflict as enduring features, with limited potential for cooperation). It emerged from the North American discipline of political science and reformulates the classical realist tradition of E. H. Carr, Hans Morgenthau, George Kennan, and Reinhold Niebuhr). Neorealism is subdivided into defensive and offensive neorealism).
Neorealism is an ideological departure from classical realism, which originally explained the machinations of international politics as being based on human nature and therefore subject to the ego and emotion of world leaders. Neorealist thinkers instead propose that structural constraints—not strategy, egoism, or motivation—will determine behavior in international relations). For neorealists, social norms are considered largely irrelevant, which is in contrast to some classical realists who did see norms as potentially important). Neorealists are also skeptical of the ability of international organizations to act independently in the international system and facilitate cooperation between states).
Neorealism has been criticized from various directions. Other major paradigms of international relations scholarship, such as liberal and constructivist approaches, have criticized neorealist scholarship in terms of theory and empirics). Within realism, classical realists and neoclassical realists have also challenged some aspects of neorealism).
