US Foreign Policy and the Iraq War. An empirical study of realism?

Abstract: This BA-thesis examines whether realism can be empirically tested on the Iraq war in 2003. I am inspired by Mearsheimer's offensive realism, which holds that all states are aggressive because of the structure of international politics. Realism has a lot of theories about power, which I examine extensively and then apply empirically. Realism states that there are two strategies for a states? survival. One for gaining power, and one for checking aggressors. The Iraq war can be analysed as a way for the US to gain power, or as a way of checking Saddam Hussein as an aggressor. I analyse the American foreign policy using offensive realism, which holds that all states want to become hegemons. I analyse how realist theory predicts that the US should behave as a state, and compare this with the empirical evidence. I also analyse the behaviour of Saddam Hussein using realist theory, which holds that all state leaders are rational.