One of the oldest and most common definitions of politics is; politics means trying to obtain and protect power. This effort can include all aspects of human life and society. At international political levels that I want to discuss in this peace of wiring, “Hans Morgenthau”, who considered as the father and discoverer of “political realism”, believed that international politics was to compete for, reach, protect, accumulate and develop power. May be there are people who consider this an exaggerated view, but even now there is a consensus among political science and international relations theorists, that if not the first and foremost, at least one of the main goals of states is trying to gain and develop their own power.
Though the realists are seriously resist on this view, but “realism” and “power politics” are commonly associated with each other, and whenever realism is mentioned, power is represented. However, the rest of the views have not only rejected the power of their countries, but most of them recognize realists’ hypothesis.
Despite consensus on empowerment of states, even the realists are not agreed about how much power the states want and to what extent they are trying to develop their power. Regards to this, the views are different and it’s a subject requires more discussions. The debate is reflected particularly in the new theories of the Realism School, and even the answer of this question played a key role in dividing realism thinkers into different theories. About one of the main goals of the countries is to achieve and develop their strength; there is a consensus among international relations thinkers, especially among thinkers of realism school and other different theories. But there is no consensus on how much power states need, even the answer to the question has divided thinkers and created different theories.
Meanwhile, defensive realism and offensive realism have had the most arguments on the issue. Obviously, both defensive realism and offensive realism theories recognize that developing power and ability is the main goal of countries. In addition, these countries consider that gaining power is the most appropriate step to provide security and guarantee survival, but while defensive realism thinkers say states only need a convinced amount of force after they see that the force can provide security for them.
Offensive realism thinkers say that no percentage of forces can assure states that they can provide their security and ensure their survival. Therefore all countries are constantly trying to gain supremacy position, because they can only ensure their security and survival after reaching their supremacy position. That means while defenders insist on stabilizing the balance of power as the most appropriate mechanism of peace and providing state security, the Offensive realists insist that each state is only after destroying the balance, achieving sovereignty and a position of dominance feel secure, so whenever the profits outweigh the costs, they follow aggressive policies.
