Introduction

The principal preoccupation of this chapter lies in establishing a tripartite classification of international relations which will be deployed in subsequent chapters. In contrast to other such schemes in international relations, the classification presented below brings methodological and practical-moral concerns into the same schema from the outset. The establishment and development of such a schema not only permits increased critical purchase on rival conceptions of international relations, it also allows criticism of certain versions of political realism. It will therefore move us towards Part 2 of this study where I will defend four theses of a new version of political realism. This is not to say that this classification scheme is ‘foolproof’ or without its own set of difficulties; nonetheless it succeeds, I believe, in focusing our attention on the sorts of issues which need to be reflected upon. And that is all that one should expect from a classification scheme. In this connection, I hasten to point out that this chapter is followed by two subsequent chapters to make up Part 1 which, in general, has two principal goals: first, to loosen the grip on the proponents of rival conceptions of international relations by casting them in a somewhat different light and indicating the difficulties to which they give rise and second, to prepare the ground for devising a substantially revised version of political realism which is coherent, viable and attractive.