Misreading in IR theory and ideology critique: Morgenthau, Waltz and neo-realism

This article is interested in the hegemony which neo-realism accomplished duringthe second half of the 20th century in both the academic field and policy making ofI/international R/relations. Our examination posits the argument that neo-realism can beseen as an ideology rather than a theory of international politics. While this view canconnect to individual voices from the 1960s as well as to an emerging body of criticalliterature since the 1990s, we propose an ideology critique to explore this argument. Tounfold this approach we will elaborate some neo-realist misreadings which we thinkmanipulate intellectual history (among others, the writings of Hans J. Morgenthau) andrepresent an ideological impact intrinsic in the development of IR. An ideology criticalapproach – which is inherent in Morgenthau’s thoughts on international theory themselvesand thus helps to reveal profound discrepancies at the heart of an ostensible ‘realist’-neorealist‘unity’ – has, firstly, to problematise those discrepancies and, secondly, to focus onhegemonic strategies applied to ideologise and mainstream the academic field. The first partof such an agenda is what we present here; the second part is what we outlinemethodologically and suggest for further studies in, and of, IR