Ifas Study Guide

The Melian Dialogue and Realism
The Melian Dialogue is a passage written by Thucydides, which explains the differences between realist and liberal ideas in international relations.   The passage focuses on the invasion of Melos by Athens in the early 400’s B.C. during the Peloponnesian War.   The Athenians present the Melians with the choice to submit to Athens and survive, or go to war and be destroyed.
“The strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must”, was the Athenian warning to the small Spartan island of Melos.   At the time, Athens was one of the strongest states, and was enemies with Sparta.   Their warning is the epitome of a realist standpoint in international politics.   Melos, on the other hand, gave a liberal approach to the situation, warning, “Your fall would be a signal for the heaviest of vengeance”, alluding to the fact that every empire falls at some point.   The Melians, allies with Sparta, were weak compared to Athens, and usually remained neutral.   Melos may have been banking on the fact that Sparta would “come to the rescue”, but because it would not be in Sparta’s best interest to do so, Melos succumbed to Athens’ invasion.
In the end, the Melians are over-taken, re-colonized, and destroyed by the stronger Athens.   Although this proved to give instant success to the Athenians, how successful, in the long run, really was the invasion?   From a liberal point of view, we could look at Athens today and say that its realist decisions ultimately decayed the empire.
The significance of the Melian Dialogue is to realize the importance in understanding liberal and realist ideas in international relations today.   The realist Athenians seemed to be successful if taken at face value, since they overtook the Melians in one easy sweep.   If looked at more closely, however, how successful were they really in the long run.   Where is Athens today? Exactly.

Machiavelli and Ethnics
Niccolo Machiavelli is best known for his realist political...