A Comparison Analysis of the Realism Theory Development among United States, Japan and China

Abstract

Realism has always been the most powerful school of international relations theory. In addition to its long historical origin, realism theory continued to deepen vertically and horizontally with the development of the times. In the United States, realism has developed vertically, mainly explaining the three different stages on the issue of hegemony. In the first stage, classical realism preliminarily explored the pursuit of hegemony; In the second stage, structural realism rationally explained the maintenance of hegemony; In the third stage, offensive realism analyzed and demonstrated the expansion of hegemony. The horizontal development can be mainly shown in that realism theory has its theoretical achievements in both Japan and China. Japanese realism mainly explained foreign policy, and Chinese moral realism explained the problem of power transfer. The strong vitality of realism theory can be reflected in its development both vertically and horizontally.