Critical, Restless, and Relevant: Realism as Normative Thought

Abstract

This chapter engages realism as a tradition of thought invariably entangled with a normative drive to speak truth to power. To understand political power, realists hold, is to seek to restrain it. Yet, realist restraint risks leaving the human field barren and void of aspiration, in turn enabling “strong man” politics and unrestrained power. Realism has therefore always sought to take root in the aspiration for human well-being that so fuels liberalism while at the same time serving as liberalism’s critical next of kin. To detach realism from liberalism is thus to misunderstand the tradition. Instead, we must appreciate realism as the enduring corrective to liberalism, the travel companion that guards against excess and warns against unbounded aspiration. When realism counters the certitude of purpose that comes with aspiration, it is critical; when it seeks to anchor human values in imperfect institutions, it becomes restless; and when it reminds us that political and human responsibility is to balance the desirable and the responsible, it remains, as ever, relevant.