Neorealism Versus Strategic Culture

Essentially, the debate between strategic culturists and realists centres on the question of whether it is possible to explain/predict state behaviour without taking into account the particular characteristics of the state, such as its cultural constitution. This informative debate is encapsulated in the first section of this book, which engages in the theoretical arguments of each approach (strategic culture and realism), with the second section containing empirical analysis of the accuracy of the implications each approach posits. This is illustrated by a variety of country specific case studies.