Sitting on the swings at an elementary playground, one may witness a group of boys take another boy's lunch money. Many moral ideas come to mind, but does one actually think that the single boy will be able to ask the group for his money back? Will the victim be able to say "Stop please, let's be friends," and propose that they eat at the same lunch table? .
The groups of boys represent a strong threat, similar Iraq's possession of nuclear weaponry, being a threat to national security. A realist would suggest that the boy would be able to gain respect from the group if he showed his strength and determination to keep his money. On the other hand a pluralist would suggest that the boy could have his father intervene, telling the boys not too tease his son, and all would be well the next day at school. Hopefully not from experience, all should realize that the boy would only be tormented further for his father's intervention and nothing would be accomplished. The role of the father is similar to the roles played by Hans Blix and Dr. Mohammed al Baradei as United Nations" weapon inspectors. The United Nations should be seen as an ineffective organization that has ample chances to improve and enforce resolutions made by representative members. It is obvious that a realist position must be taken against Iraq, because the pluralist position is insufficient.
From a realist perspective the United States has taken action to protect our national security by declaring war on Iraq. To gain respect from other nations, one must prove that they are serious and have determination to exist. In the Darwinian world of the 21st century, nations must take action to survive. The United States took action to protect not only its national interests, but security on a global scale. Realism is "an image of international politics that tends to hold a rather pessimistic view, emphasizing the struggle for power and influence among political units acting in a rational, unitary manner in pursuit of objectives grounded in their separate, often divergent interests" (Viotti and Kauppi 509).
