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PSIR Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

Answer in about 150 words: What role does identity and technology play in the conceptualisation of Defensive realism?

  • UPSC 2026
  • 10 marks
  • Approaches to the Study of International Relations

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Defensive realism, the strand running from Kenneth N. Waltz's Theory of International Politics (1979) to Robert Jervis, Stephen Van Evera and Charles L. Glaser, holds that anarchy makes states security-seekers, not power-maximisers. Its claim that restraint is usually rational rests on two variables that bare structure cannot supply: technology, which sets the cost of attack,…

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What the full answer covers

  • Technology: the offence–defence balance
  • Identity: perception, motives and type
  • Limits
  • Conclusion
PSIR Optional PYQ Solutions

PSIR Optional PYQ Solutions

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