Article The epistemology of international politics: offensive realism and the Neorealist Scientific Research Program

What follows is a much-needed appraisal of the current state of scientificity and progressiveness in the study of international politics. Imre Lakatos' Methodology of Scientific Research Programs will provide the epistemological grounds. Three broad claims will be made and supported: (i) Waltz's neorealism is not an isolated theory of international politics, but a proper scientific research program; (ii) Mearsheimer's offensive realism too is not an isolated theory, but a set of theoretical amendments to the Neorealist Scientific Research Program's protective belt; and (iii) the offensive-realist theoryshift is both theoretically and empirically progressive.