Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Politics - Political Theory and the History of Ideas Journal, grade: 1,3, University of Siegen (FB 1), language: English, abstract: The following work is trying to show the analytical development of the realist thought in the field of international relations in a chronological order. In addition to this effort, it is also trying to discuss the main problems of realist thought as described by the leading proponents of the theory. This work is not only gathering the influential ideas of these thinkers, but also tries to give an overview of the texts which are considered the most important articles about realist thought. Realism is not a theory defined by an explicit set of assumptions and propositions. Rather, as many commentators have noted, it is a general orientation. Realism is an approach to international relations that has emerged gradually through the work of a series of analysts who have situated themselves within, and thus delimited, a distinctive but diverse style or tradition of analysis.