Realism is an approach to practicing and studying international relations and explaining the role of the state, military influences, and national interests. Realism makes a great assumption that all nations have their national interests which are often disguised as moral concerns (Donnelly, 2019). Everyone seeks to preserve their territorial integrity and political autonomy. After securing the nation’s interests, the people’s interests may take different forms. Some have the interests of securing more lands and resources; others aim at expanding their economic interests into other areas while some people may merely wish to be left alone. According to offensive realism territorial and resources expansions entails aggressive political, economic, and military policies to alter the balance of power (Pashakhanlou, 2017) . It means taking advantage of opportunities to acquire more resources at the expense of others. The cartoon is a perfect representation of how offensive realism is applied in the society.
The cartoon illustrates three people whose territories are divided by a palm tree, a representation of the essence of human nature. They all have approximately equal territorial area and an equal share of the palm tree. However one person receives more palm harvest that the others. Due to this, the other two feel that they also need more palms just like their neighbor who is more satisfied on his side. Offensive realism emphasizes using any necessary step to gain more resources at the expense of other person’s interests (Pashakhanlou, 2017) . From the illustration on the cartoon, the two people have their interest of acquiring more palms from their neighbor using force while the one who receives more harvests may desire to be left alone. The other two are realists who believe that the best way of increasing their odds of survival is by acquiring more resources from their neighbor by force. Thus, they plan to invade their neighbor’s territory at dawn and acquire the palms.
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From realism point of view, the growth of one territory can cause unequal sharing of resources. Since all territories seek resources through maximization, the two territories that receive fewer palms are likely to clash with the one that receives more. According to offensive realists, systemic imperatives pushes many nations to expand (Donnelly, 2019). Conquest and expansion often makes territories become more secure, pay huge dividends, and prevent other states from acquiring more power. The quest for more resources encourages the territories to engage in territorial and economic expansion. Offensive realism stipulates conditions that promote expansion. One of them is when distribution of resources is multipolar (Pashakhanlou, 2017) . This allows states to defeat their opponents and contributes uncertainty and miscalculations concerning actual distribution of resources. In the cartoon, it is acceptable for the two people to apply force for them to gain more palms.
Realism also maintains that conquest is profitable. According to Donnelley (2019), territories that initiate aggression have higher chances of winning and surviving. Natural resources are cumulative and they can be increased depending on a person’s capacity. The carton represents realism in international relations and how countries use power to gain resources from others, resulting to conflicts. Repressive and coercive subjugators can force vanquished territories to pay a large share of their economic surplus on tributes and taxes. Thus if a country has more resources other countries are more likely to take the resources from it. As a result of modernization, the efficiency of foreign coercion increases since realism centralizes control, provides hostage territories more lose from their oppositions and facilitates quick distribution of resources over wide regions (Pashakhanlou, 2017) . Thus, the less privileged states can use every opportunity to increase their resources and power since the outcomes is profitable.
In conclusion, the cartoon illustrates how offensive realism is applied. According to offensive realism, resources in the international system are scarce and countries have to maximize every opportunity to gain more resources. The ultimate goal is gaining more resources since it increase the odds of survival. The cartoon illustrates two people trying to fight for more resources at the expense of their neighbors interests. Their interests are to gain more palms from their neighbor and use force to achieve what they want. The cartoon portrays the international relations and how the less privileged countries are fighting for more industrial, natural, and economic resources from countries with more resources.
References
Donnelly, J. (2019). What Do We Mean by Realism? And How—And What—Does Realism Explain? In Fear and Uncertainty in Europe (pp. 13-33). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Pashakhanlou, A. H. (2017). Realism and Fear in International Relations. In Realism and Fear in International Relations (pp. 1-21). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
