Offensive Realism and the Problem of Positivist Explanation in International Relationsm A Critical Epistemological Approach to the Limits of Material Reductionism

Abstract

This study offers a critical epistemological examination of John Mearsheimer’s Offensive Realism, focusing on its embeddedness within the positivist framework of International Relations. The central problem asks whether the positivist-materialist approach can still provide a convincing scientific explanation of complex international phenomena in light of post-positivist transformations. The study hypothesizes that the theoretical inadequacy of Offensive Realism is not merely empirical but structurally epistemological, stemming from its reduction of international explanation to material-causal variables while neglecting the role of ideas, identities, and discourses. Methodologically, the research combines critical conceptual analysis, deconstructive discourse analysis, and epistemological assumption tracing. It concludes that the most defensible alternative is Critical Realism, which preserves the possibility of scientific explanation without falling into positivist reductionism or postmodern relativism.