larger states that may employ an offensive foreign policy. The opposing view, “offensive realism,” implies that a state will always work to extend its power by expanding its control and influence to as many states as possible (Rose, 145). It is important to note that neither offensive nor defensive realism focuses on human nature, rather they focus on the anarchic structure of international politics defined by realism.

It is with these explanations in mind that one can now analyze several historical events in which classical realism’s definition of human nature was not the initial factor that encouraged both conflict and cooperation. The United States intervention in the Middle East to spark the Gulf War is one of many examples that illustrate such factors. However, in this example, it must be noted that the United Nations works as a main actor in the political stage despite that most realists agree that individual states are the main actors. Jim George stated, “…[the invasion] was at various times and to varying degrees about Kuwaiti democracy, Kuwaiti self-determination, the principle of state sovereignty, [and] the preservation of Middle East stability” (200). By this, George implies that the United States-led invasion, combined with the power of the United Nations was not in search of power, as classical realism’s assumption about human nature would declare, rather the invasion was in pursuit of neorealism’s balance of power. The balance of power, in this case, was important because had the United Nations not intervened, Iraq would be a superpower within the Middle East and have too much control over oil and oil prices. This clearly threatened any other modernized country that used oil as their main energy source, as the Iraqi government was known for lack of cooperation. Thus, it was imperative that the less powerful nations of OPEC had combined power that was equal or greater than that of Iraq (George, 200). One could argue that defensive realists would go further to explain that though it is the balance of power that motivated this invasion, it is in the definition of human nature that one can discover the basis for the balance of power. Defensive realists regard that the international system allows for expansion of power through internal affairs, like forming an alliance or joining a coalition against another nation in this circumstance. This means that the invasion of Kuwait specifically reflects back to Hobbes’ assumption of human nature that all of humanity fears death, as many nations got involved in order to preserve state sovereignty (George, 200). This is illustrative of Hobbes’ assumption because many states involved for this reason acknowledged that allowing one state to lose its sovereignty opens the door for state sovereignty to not be respected by any power, leading to the “death” of a state