Existential international relations

This thesis scrutinizes some of the underlying assumptions of international political theory. The study focuses on assumptions about human nature by four major international theorists: Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Hans Morgenthau, and David Mitrany. Drawing from works by these theorists as well as from the works of their commentators and other relevant theorists, I find that qualitative assumptions about human nature--man is essentially cooperative; man is naturally competitive--are highly doubtful. Since the doubtfulness of a theory is negatively related to its strength, I maintain that such theories harm more than they help international political theory. I accordingly argue that theory of international politics should be reconfigured. This rethinking would be wisely informed by existentialist theory, which minimizes doubtful assumptions about human nature. An existentialist conception of international politics could at once appropriately describe states' relations and suggest an ethics for those relations.