Transcending paradigm bashing: Realism and Idealism in international politics

In this article we will show that one should transcend the supposed differences between paradigms within the study of international relations. In order to do this, we will sort out the paradigms that can and must be seen as genuine alternatives and, being antithetical, do not lend themselves for a synthesis. We will argue that realism and idealism are still the opposite poles, redefined as material individualism and social idealism or as materially constructed reality and socially constructed realism. Subsequently, we will demonstrate that dialectical pairs of concepts like war and peace or material and ideational properties must be considered as two sides of the same coin. We will conclude this essay with the supposition that the theoretical opposites within the debate, realism and idealism, should be considered as two simultaneously existing truths, while an empirical historical analysis should decide about the degree to which each of them prevails.