Subaltern realism

Subaltern realism is a theory first proposed in the 1980s and further developed in the 1990s by Professor Mohammed Ayoob, a scholar of international relations.

The theory is a critical rejoinder to the neorealism of Kenneth Waltz and others, including the domestic analogies that neorealism employs.

It aims to provide an analytical tool for grasping the major determinants of Third World state behavior, the dominant concerns of Third World state elites, and the root causes of conflict in the Third World. The theory emphasizes the divergence of Third World conditions from those of industrialized core states, and has gone on to criticize mainstream International Relations theory for excluding the Third World. It proposes an alternative conceptualization of security and emphasizes the inequality in IR theorizing.

Principles

The subaltern realism theory advocates that third world states are generally weak, and are often economically and militarily dependent on external benefactors, mostly industrialized states. Therefore, third world states are more concerned with relative gains and short-term benefits than long-term benefits and absolute gains.

Additionally, third world states interactions are limited to their immediate neighborhood, especially in the security sphere, and as such they will choose to interact with other states who possess similar characteristics.They are therefore much less concerned with security matters of an international level. [Ayoob, Mohammed: "Inequality and Theorizing in International Relations: The Case for Subaltern Realism", International Studies Review, Vol. 4, No. 3. (Autumn, 2002), pp. 27-48]

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