Thomas Hobbes and Classical Realism (an assignment submission for Ma'am Zainab ✨)

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:05]If these ever [ __ ] [ __ ] you.

[00:00:14]This is Thomas, a man who looked at the human civilization and concluded, you know what, these people Thomas Hobbes was a 17th century English philosopher best known for writing his work. It is a book that essentially argues that human beings are selfish, fearful, power- hungry creatures and without an authority or society become a battle royale which honestly sounds less like a philosophy and more like an afar buffet.

[00:00:45]Now before hopes, philosophers still discussed war and power. Husidities talked about fear and interstate rivalry. Mueller explained how rulers maintain authority but hopes. Hopes saw human beings fighting over survival, power and authority and said this is not a bug. This is a feature.

[00:01:07]According to Hobbes, human existed in something which he called the state of nature. State of nature. A condition where there is no supreme authority, no law, no order, no security, which academically refers to political anarch, but emotionally but emotionally feels very similar to crossing the Murray road on a Russia.

[00:01:28]Thomas Hob's main contribution wasn't that humans are evil. That's too simp.

[00:01:32]His real argument was much darker.

[00:01:34]Believes that humans get trapped in conflicts because they are insecure.

[00:01:38]Even peaceful people prepare for violence. Which means if your neighbor buys weapons, you buy bigger weapons.

[00:01:44]And when they buy even bigger weapons, nobody feels safes and everybody gets nervous. Defense budgets.

[00:01:54]This is where hopes changed the international relations forever.

[00:01:57]Classical realists took Hopes ideas about individuals and applied them to states. Their argument was terrifyingly simple. If humans are insecure without authority, then states are insecure without a world government. Meaning the international system itself resembles hope's state of nature. No global police, no ultimate authority. The states trying to survive in a world where just is temporary and power is everything. It's very simple. No supreme authority is equals to international anarchy. Now this is what separates hopes from earliest realist thinkers.

[00:02:34]Thusidities described power politics historically. Nicolola explained it strategically, but Hobbes explained it philosophically.

[00:02:51]He proved realism with a systematic theory rooted in human nature, fear, and insecurity. In other words, HBS explained why the conflict never truly ends, which is either a profound political theory or an academic version of some very deepened trust issue.

[00:03:07]Instead of trusting my own analysis, which would have been academically irresponsible and spiritually concerning, we decided to speak to some actual professionals.

[00:03:25]Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the newsroom. Our first guest specializes in strategic studies and international relations, meaning they have voluntarily decided to dedicate years of this life studying nuclear deterrence, war theory, and political instability. And sir, how does Hobbes's explanation of conflict differ from early realist thinkers such as Theosidities and M?

[00:03:47]>> Indeed, it is a great question. I'll try my best to explain it to you. So if you want to understand the classical realism you need to know how thoses completely changed the game compared to the earlier thinkers like uh two sideds or milli.

[00:04:04]Think of it in this way. The sided look at the conflict as historical. He observed the wars happen when power shifts between the empires which is uh driven by human emotions like fear, honor or interest. Mackave on the other hand saw conflict as an instrumental to him. Violence and deceit was simply practical tools or state craft strategies used by the leaders to survive in the ruthless world.

[00:04:32]But Hobbes argued that the conflict is not just the result of bad leaders or rising empires is it is an is inescapable reality of anarchy. In his famous uh state of nature, there is no overarching authority, no global pulse because everyone is vulnerable and you can never trust your neighbor. You can never read his mind. For a rational being, you have to strike first just to survive.

[00:05:04]>> So, thank you for your answer and now we'll be moving towards a short break.

[00:05:08]Ladies and gentlemen, we will be taking a small app break over here. And this newsroom has been sponsored by Gangster Glasses. If you also want to look as cool as Arun Malik is looking right in this video, you can buy these by sending an email on the link down below. Back to the newsroom.

[00:05:33]So coming back to the main question, how did hopes influence the classical realism? Will he transform realism from an historical observation into a systematic explanation of fear, insecurity, and conflict? Earlier thinkers described war and power politics, OBS explained why they always reappear. Centuries later, ladies and gentlemen, international politics still reflects many of the same anxieties that he identified, which is either brilliant political insight or humanity needing collective therapy or probably both. So the next time when you see two countries fighting over material ideology and space just know that somewhere in the history there not