The College of Political Science at the University of Baghdad discussed the doctoral thesis entitled “Budgeting and Alignment in the Realist Perspective: States’ Motivations for Building Alliances in International Politics,” by the student Mohammed Kazem Saleh, under the supervision of Assistant Professor Dr. Adel Abdul-Hamza Thjeel.
The thesis examined states’ motivations for building alliances and their responses to threats and structural opportunities within the framework of the Balance of Power research program. It covered the debate among realists and their use of theoretical arguments to interpret phenomena of budgeting, alignment, and expansion in international politics. In other words, it traced the roots of these responses in the international and local structures, exploring the motives driving them and investigating the consequences they ultimately produce. Primarily, the study examined how differences in states’ domestic structures or unit-level factors affect the foreign policies they choose.
Overall, this study represents a realistic neoclassical achievement in the role of unit-level factors (independent variables) proposed, whether in constraining or enhancing states’ ability to respond to threats they face or seize opportunities available to them in the international environment.
At the end of the discussion, the researcher was awarded the doctoral degree with a “very high distinction,” wishing all our dear students success and prosperity.
