Hanxin Lecture Series: Trump shockwave: Analyzing International Politics from the perspective of Realism
To explore the impact of Donald Trump’s policies on the international landscape, Oneworld Hanxin College invited Dr. Lam Choong Wah to deliver a lecture series titled “The Trump Shockwave: Analyzing International Politics from the perspective of Realism”. Dr. Lam holds a PhD in International Relations from Xiamen University, China, and is currently a senior lecturer at the Department of International and Strategic Studies, University of Malaya. His expertise lies in international relations and strategic studies.The course was structured into four sessions: Classical Realism, Offensive Realism, Defensive Realism, and Moral Realism. Using realist theory as a framework, Dr. Lam analyzed the foreign policy of the Trump administration and its influence on the global order.
He introduced key realist thinkers and political philosophers in the context of international relations, including Thucydides, Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Core tenets of realism include: the international system is anarchic; sovereign states are the primary actors; states act rationally in pursuit of self-interest; a state’s main objective is security and survival; and power—especially military power—is the best guarantee of national security.
Dr. Lam also referenced The Twenty Years’ Crisis by Edward Hallett Carr, which offers an in-depth analysis of the causes of World War II, attributing them to appeasement policies and the failure of great powers to maintain a balance of power.
He further elaborated on the ideas of three major international relations scholars: John Mearsheimer, the founder of Offensive Realism; Kenneth Waltz, the proponent of Defensive Realism; and Yan Xuetong, who introduced the concept of Moral Realism.
