Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has opened a pandora’s box of contention over the past three months, not least over the question of “realism” in foreign policy. Realist international relations scholars like John Mearsheimer have been fiercely attacked for supposedly justifying the invasion or deferring excessively to Russia’s positions. Other realist thinkers like Stephen Walt have hit back, defending Mearsheimer and the realist framework from critics.

But what exactly is realism, where did it emerge, and what aspects of it should the Left seek to learn from — and what should we reject wholesale? To find out the answers to these questions and more, Jacobin’s Branko Marcetic spoke with Daniel Bessner, associate professor in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington and the cohost of the American Prestige podcast.