Ethnocentric vs. Regiocentric Consolidation in the Aerospace and

Prince”; 1532), Thomas Hobbes (“Leviathan”; 1651), Cardinal de Richelieu (who formulated the
concept of “raison d’état”), Carl von Clausewitz (“On War”; 1832). Classical realism is based on a
gloomy view of human nature. The rise of (modern) realism in the 20 th century was above all a
response to the disillusionment with utopian / liberal ideas following the failure of the League of
Nations, the devastation of WWII, and the beginning of the Cold War superpower confrontation.
The term “realism” itself derives from the German word “Realpolitik”. It was originally coined in
the 19 th century by Otto von Bismarck, who combined the Spanish adjective real (royal) and the
German noun Politik (politics) and proved to be a master in balance-of-power politics – a key
concept of realism.
The period following the end of WWI, supposedly the “war to end all wars, was characterised by
enormous optimism and a belief in the possibilities of peaceful cooperation – expressed both in the
theory and practice of international relations. President Wilson framed his Fourteen Points as a
basis for permanent international peace. By banning secret treaties, reducing (offensive) weapons
arsenals, applying the principle of self-determination and, most importantly, founding the League of
Nations, Wilson hoped, states would be finally able to overcome the scourge of war. And “idealist”
IR theorists at the time saw it as academia’s responsibility to be another nail in the coffin of armed
conflict.
In “The Twenty Years Crisis, 1919-1939: An Introduction to the Study of International
Relations” 187 , Edward Carr provides a critical analysis of the “idealist” twenty-year period between
WWI and II. Carr, who published his book shortly after the outbreak of WWII, exposes the wishful
thinking and naïve belief in the power of international law that was so widespread at the time. He is
particularly critical of the League of Nations, an institution that President Wilson proposed but
could not get approved by the US Senate due to the strong isolationist sentiment in America at the
time. In Carr’s view, international law is the law of an “undeveloped and not fully integrated
community” and “lacks three institutions which are essential parts of any developed system of […]
law: a judicature, an executive and a legislature.”
After the enormous material and moral devastations of WWII, realism became the dominant school
of IR theory in America. Hans Morgenthau and his seminal 1948 book “Politics Among Nations:
The Struggle for Power and Peace” 188 had arguably the biggest impact on (realist) IR theory,
186 Ibid., p. 487
187 Carr (1964)
188 Morgenthau (1973)
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