International Politics

, Volume 50, Issue 6, pp 798–814 | Cite as

The realist revival in political philosophy, or: Why new is not always improved

  • William E Scheuerman
Original Article
First Online:

Abstract

Realist political philosophy has enjoyed a remarkable revival in recent years, with prominent intellectual figures (for example, Raymond Geuss, Bernard Williams) promoting an identifiably ‘realist’ alternative to neo-Kantianism. Yet contemporary Realists either ignore or caricature mid-century (or classical) international realists (for example, E.H. Carr, Hans Morgenthau, Reinhold Niebuhr), whose theoretical contributions have also recently generated a substantial revival of interest among international political theorists. However, they have done so at a high cost: recent philosophical-minded realists unwittingly reproduce conceptual ambiguities plaguing mid-century international realist contributions to political ethics. Unlike its mid-century predecessor, realist political philosophy also fails to analyze political ‘realities’ in any but the most abstract fashion. Realist political philosophy still primarily constitutes an anti-Kantian gesture, but by no means a cogent theoretical alternative.

Keywords

political realism international realism international political theory 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Hartmut Behr, Seyla Benhabib and Eva Erman for critical comments on an earlier version, as well as the participants in the lively discussion at the ‘Reorienting Realism’ conference coordinated by Sean Molloy at Edinburgh University, 23–24 June 2012.

References

  1. Behr, H. and Rösch, F. (eds.) (2012) Introduction. In: H. Morgenthau. The Concept of the Political. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 3–82.Google Scholar
  2. Beitz, C. (1979) Political Theory and International Relations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
  3. Bell, D. (ed.) (2009) Political Thought and International Relations: Variations on a Realist Theme. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
  4. Benhabib, S. (ed.) (1996) Democracy and Difference: Contesting the Boundaries of the Political. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
  5. Carr, E.H. (1964) Twenty Years; Crisis, 1919-1939. 2nd edn. New York: Harper.Google Scholar
  6. Coady, C.A.J. (2008) Messy Morality: The Challenge of Politics. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
  7. Cox, M. (ed.) (2000) E.H. Carr: A Critical Appraisal. London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Craig, C. (2003) Total War in the Realism of Niebuhr, Morgenthau, and Waltz. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Forrester, K. (2012) Judith Shklar, Bernard Williams and Political Realism. European Journal of Political Theory 11 (3): 247–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Galston, W. (2010) Realism in political theory. European Journal of Political Theory 9 (4): 385–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Geuss, R. (1981) The Idea of Critical Theory: Habermas and the Frankfurt School. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
  12. Geuss, R. (1999) Morality, Culture and History: Essays in German Philosophy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
  13. Geuss, R. (2001a) History and Illusion in Politics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
  14. Geuss, R. (2001b) Public Goods, Private Goods. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
  15. Geuss, R. (2005) Outside Ethics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
  16. Geuss, R. (2008) Philosophy and Real Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Geuss, R. (2010) Politics and the Imagination. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
  18. Habermas, J. (1996) Between Facts and Norms. Trans. W. Rehg. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
  19. Hawthorn, G. (2005) Introduction. In: Williams, In the Beginning Was the Deed. pp. xi–xx.Google Scholar
  20. Honig, B. and Stears, M. (2011) The new realism: From modus vivendi to justice. In: J. Floyd and M. Stears (eds.) Political Philosophy versus History? Contextualism and Real Politics in Contemporary Political Thought. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
  21. Jütersonke, O. (2010) Morgenthau, Law and Realism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Lebow, R. (2003) The Tragic Vision of Politics: Ethics, Interests, and Orders. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Mendus, S. (2009) Politics and Morality. Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
  24. Molloy, S. (2006) The Hidden History of Realism. London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Morgenthau, H. (1935) Die Krise der metaphysischen Ethik von Kant bis Nietzsche, Geneva, unpublished [Morgenthau Archives, Box 112, Library of Congress, copy on file with author].Google Scholar
  26. Morgenthau, H. (1940) Positivism, functionalism, and International law. American Journal of International Law 34 (1940): 260–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Morgenthau, H. (1946) Scientific Man Vs. Power Politics. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
  28. Morgenthau, H. (1949) The political science of E.H. Carr. World Politics 1 (1949): 127–134.Google Scholar
  29. Morgenthau, H. (1951) In Defense of the National Interest: A Critical Examination of American Foreign Policy. New York: Alfred Knopf.Google Scholar
  30. Morgenthau, H. (1954) Politics among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace, 2nd edn. New York: Alfred Knopf.Google Scholar
  31. Morgenthau, H. (1958) Dilemmas of Politics. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
  32. Moses, A.D. (2007) German Intellectuals and the Nazi Past. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. Murray, A. (1997) Reconstructing Realism: Between Power Politics and Cosmopolitan Ethics. Edinburgh, UK: University of Keele Press.Google Scholar
  34. Niebuhr, R. (1944) The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.Google Scholar
  35. Owen, D. (2010) Die verlorene und die wiedergefundene wirklichkeit. Ethik, Politik und imagination bei Raymond Geuss. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 58 (3): 431–433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Pogge, T. (1994) Cosmopolitanism and sovereignty. In: C. Brown (ed.) Political Restructuring in Europe: Ethical Perspectives. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
  37. Scheuerman, W.E. (2009) Hans J. Morgenthau: Realism and Beyond. Cambridge, UK: Polity.Google Scholar
  38. Scheuerman, W.E. (2011) The Realist Case for Global Reform. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.Google Scholar
  39. Scheuerman, W.E. (2012) Realism and the Kantian tradition: A revisionist account. International Relations 26 (2): 453–477.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. Schmitt, C. (1996) Concept of the Political. Trans. G. Schwab. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
  41. Schou Tjalve, V. (2008) Niebuhr, Morgenthau, and the Politics of Patriotic Dissent: Realist Strategies of Republican Peace. London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  42. Schuett, R. (2010) Political Realism, Feud, and Human Nature in International Relations. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  43. Sleat, M. (2007) Making sense of our lives – on the political thought of Bernard Williams. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 10 (3): 389–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  44. Sleat, M. (2010) Bernard Williams and the possibility of a realist political theory. European Journal of Political Theory 9 (4): 485–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  45. Strecker, D. (2012) Logik der Macht. Zum Ort der Kritik zwischen Theorie und Praxis. Göttingen, the Netherlands: Velbrück.Google Scholar
  46. Turner, S. (2009) Hans J. Morgenthau and the Legacy of Max Weber. In: Bell, Political Thought and International Relations, pp. 63–82.Google Scholar
  47. Williams, B. (2002) Truth and Truthfulness: An Essay in Genealogy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
  48. Williams, B. (2005a) In the Beginning was the Deed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
  49. Williams, B. (2006) Philosophy as a Humanistic Discipline. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
  50. Williams, B. (2008) Shame and Necessity, 2nd edn. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
  51. Williams, M. (2005b) The Realist Tradition and the Limits of International Relations. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  52. Williams, M. (ed.) (2007) Realism Reconsidered: The Legacy of Hans J. Morgenthau in International Relations. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
  53. Wolfers, A. (1962) Discord and Collaboration: Essays on International Politics. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • William E Scheuerman
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Political Science and West European StudiesIndiana University BloomingtonBloomingtonUSA

Personalised recommendations