POLI 243 Lecture 1: POLI 243 Final Exam Notes and Readings
12 Sep 2018
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Readings: Jan 10
Hans J. Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace, p. 4-15
Six Principles of Political Realism:
1. Political realism believes that politics is governed by objective las that have their roots in human
nature. It's important to understand the laws by which society lives.
1. Realism also believes in the possibility of distinguishing in politics between truth and
opinion (evidence and judgement)
2. Human nature has not changed since old times of China, India and Greece (novelty is not
correlated with age)
3. Political theory must satisfy the test of reason and experience, giving facts meaning
through reason
4. To give meaning to the raw material of foreign policy, we put ourselves in the position
of a statesman who must meet a problem of foreign policy and consider other
alternatives to choose from. Testing the hypothesis against facts and their consequences
gives meaning to the facts of international politics.
2. Realism applies in international politics through interest in terms of power.
1. This concept sets politics as its own sphere of action apart from other spheres
(economics, ethics, religion).
2. We look at the action that a statesman takes to find out if he acts in terms of interest
defined as power.
3. Interest defined as power imposes intellectual discipline upon the observer, it makes
foreign policy appear as rational regardless of motives of the statesmen.
4. Realist theory of international politics guards against: the concern with motives and the
concern with ideological preferences. Even if we know the statesman motives to know
the direction of his foreign policy, we cannot predict it.
1. Example: Neville Chamberlin had good motives to preserve peace and happiness
but his policies helped to make WWII inevitable and cause misery to many.
2. Example 2: Winston Churchill's interest of personal and national power, but the
policies of these motives were superior in moral and political quality.
5. It important to know the intellectual ability of a statesman to comprehend the essentials
of foreign policy and his political ability to translate what he has comprehended into
political action more than the motives of a statesman.
6. Statesmen distinguish between their "official duty" and their "personal wish".
7. Political realism considers a rational foreign policy to be good foreign policy because it
minimizes risks and maximizes benefits (complies with both moral and political
requirement of success).
3. Realism assumes that its key concept of interest defined as power is an objective category which
is universally valid, but there is not a fixed, permanent meaning.
1. Yes, interest is the essence of politics and unaffected by time and place
2. However, the kind of interest determining political action depends upon the political
and cultural context within which foreign policy is formulated.
3. The manner of the usage of power applies to this as well.
4. Political realism is aware of the moral significance of political action
1. It is aware of the tension between the moral command and the requirements of
successful political action.
2. Both individual and state must judge political action by universal moral principles (ex:
liberty).
3. Prudence: The weighing of the consequences of alternative political actions. Prudence is
the supreme virtue in politics.
5. Political realism refuses to identify the moral aspirations of a particular nation with the moral
laws that govern the universe.
1. Distinguishing between truth and idolatry (nations have the temptation to enforce their
own aspirations and actions on a universal level).
6. Difference between political realism and other schools of thought is profound.
1. The political realist maintains the autonomy of the political sphere - in terms of interest
defined as power
2. The political realist is aware of the existence and relevance of standards of thought
other than political ones'
3. Realist defense implies that other modes of thought should be assigned their proper
sphere and function
Structural Realism after the Cold War by Kenneth N. Waltz
●Some students think that because of changing times and conditions, better ideas of political
realism need to be considered.
●However, changes of the system would make old ways of thinking irrelevant but changing in the
system would not.
●When there are more than two major power units, states rely on their own internal efforts and
on alliances with others in order to ensure security.
Democracy and Peace
●The end of the Cold War coincided with a new democratic wave
●Democratic peace thesis: Democracies do not fight democracies (rests on a perceived
correlation between governmental form and international outcome)
●Liberal democracies are peaceful in relation to one another
The Causes of War
●Kant: "The natural state is the state of war." Anything can cause war.
●Democratic peace thesis proponents think that the spread of democracy will negate the effects
of anarchy - there will be no more structural level conflict and war.
●Kant, "Principles of the Political Order", establishment of the proper constitution internally
requires the proper ordering of the external relations of states.
○The first duty of the state is to defend itself, only the state itself can define the actions
required
●There is no such thing as unjust war in the state of nature
●John Mueller: Powerful states often gain their ends by peaceful means where weaker states
either fail or have to resort to war.
●The structure of international politics is not transformed by changes internal to states
●Conclusion: Democracies rarely fight democracies, caution that the internal excellence of states
is a basis of peace
Democratic Wars
●Democracies coexist with undemocratic states, and fight a fair share of wars against each other
●Citizens of democratic states think of themselves as "good" and of undemocratic states as "bad"
●The existence of undemocratic states is a danger to others, the American military often takes
measures to enhance world democracy
●R.H. Tawney: "Either war is a crusade, or it is a crime."
●Democratic governments may respond to internal political imperatives when they should be
responding to external ones, but if democracy may promote war against undemocratic states,
we cannot say for sure that the spread of democracy will bring a net decrease in the amount of
war in the world.
●When democracy is ascendant, the interventionist ideals prosper, especially when one
democratic state becomes dominant (like the US now)
●If the democratic peace thesis is right, structural realist theory is wrong. The causes of war lie
both in the states and in the state system.
The Weak Effects of Interdependence
●Interdependence adds the power of the profit motive
○Democratic states may increasingly devote themselves to the pursuit of peace and
profits
○The trading state is replacing the political-military state
○The power of the market now surpasses the power of the state
●Interdependence in some ways promotes peace by multiplying contacts among states and
contributing to mutual understanding. However, it also multiplies the occasions for conflicts that
may promote resentment and war.
●Interdependence is weak, it is closer within modern states than across states
●Integration becomes the more appropriate word because there is a high expectation that peace
will prevail and order will be preserved
●With zero interdependence, neither conflict nor war is possible
●Keohane and Nye's term "asymmetric interdependence", uneven effects of interdependence
with some parties to it gaining more and others gaining less
●American foreign politics since WWII is full of examples of how the US used its superior
economic capability to promote its political and security interests
●Susan Strange "The Retreat of the State" argues that the progressive integration of the world
economy, through international production, has shifted the balance of power away from states
and toward world markets."
○Power has "shifted upward from weak states to stronger ones"
