Abstract:
The United States pursuing the realist prescription during the cold war helped
maintain the balance of power and thus ‘peace’ among the competing great powers.
In the post-cold war era it divorced some of realist assumptions – most importantly
the prudential consideration – and pursued hegemonic policies which not only
alienated its allies but also created apprehensions among other great powers about
US ambitious grand designs. By pursuing such policies it has challenged not only the
legitimacy of certain institutions established since Second World War (like United
Nations), but also the institutions being established since Treaty of Westphalia (like
state sovereignty). The study postulates that struggle for power and great power
politics that had gone to the back-benches for some time during 1990s is very much
alive and back in the post 9/11 era generally, and in the past decade specifically,
establishing the prominence of enduring legacy of Realism.
