Understanding Political Realism: A Review of the Thoughts of Thucydides, Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Morgenthau

Agung Wicaksono (Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary)
Cifebrima Suyastri (National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan)
Rio Sundari (Universitas Islam Riau, Indonesia)

Journal of Government and Political Issues
Vol. 2 No. 2 (2022): July

This article discusses one of the basic concepts in political science and international relations, namely realism. As a perspective often used to analyze various political phenomena, it is essential to re-understand the concept of realism itself as a whole. This article attempts to provide a clear picture of what realism is meant and explain the history of realism from various realism thinkers. This article reviews the realism concept of 4 characters, namely Thucydides, Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Morgenthau. This article explains that each thinker has their arguments for explaining realism. Hopefully, this article can provide readers with a complete understanding of realism as a concept or perspective often used in political science.