---
title: "Kenneth Waltz: Founder of Neorealism | Model Diplomat"
description: "Kenneth Waltz was a key political scientist who founded neorealism, explaining international conflict through the anarchic state system."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/glossary/kenneth-waltz"
---

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Model Diplomat Research Team · Last reviewed June 22, 2026

TL;DR

- Kenneth Waltz (1924–2013) was an American political scientist who founded neorealism, locating the causes of international conflict in the anarchic structure of the state system.
- What are Waltz's three images of international conflict?
- How does neorealism differ from classical realism?
- What was Waltz's position on nuclear proliferation?
- How did Waltz's neorealism shape later IR debates?

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In a 2012 Foreign Affairs essay, "Why Iran Should Get the Bomb," Kenneth Waltz argued that an Iranian nuclear capability would restore stability to the Middle East by balancing Israel's monopoly.

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