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Righteous Realists - Political Realism, Responsible Power, and American Culture in the Nuclear Age (Paperback)
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Righteous Realists - Political Realism, Responsible Power, and American Culture in the Nuclear Age (Paperback)
Series: Political Traditions in Foreign Policy Series
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Political realism in post-World War II America has not been about
power alone, but about reconciling power with moral and ethical
considerations. The caricature of realism as an expression of
amoral realpolitik has been inadequate and false, for realism in
the nuclear age has pivoted as much on moral principles as on power
politics. Joel H. Rosenthal's survey of five noteworthy
self-proclaimed political realists explores the realists'
overarching commitment to transforming traditional power politics
into a form of ""responsible power"" commensurate with American
values. Hans Morgenthau, George Kennan, Reinhold Niebuhr, Walter
Lippman, and Dean Acheson, the most important and prolific of the
American realists, all fought the excesses of crusading moralism
while simultaneously promoting a concept of power politics that
retained a moral component at its core. This is the story of how
architects of containment, present at the creation of the new
bipolar world shaped by the threat of ""mutual assured
destruction,"" became ardent critics of that world. It describes
realism as a product of a particular time and place, a set of
values, assumptions, processes of moral reasoning, and views about
America's role in the world. Much of the current scholarship on the
modern American realists dwells on the alleged inconsistencies of
realism as a political theory, and the tortuous mixture of piety
and detachment exhibited in the lives of the realists themselves.
Rosenthal takes the opposite tack, assembling the ties that bind
realism into a coherent world view, rather than deconstructing it
into irreconcilable fragments. Rosenthal maintains that the postwar
American realists may be best understood as products of the
historical and cultural context from which they emerged. Their
attempts to articulate a ""public philosophy"" and integrate values
into decision making in international affairs reflected their views
on both the way the world ""is"" and the way the world ""ought to
be."" This study explains realism as an effort to articulate a
prescriptive framework for working toward the ideal while living in
the real. In doing so, it reveals the realists' insistence on
evaluating competing claims and on accepting paradox as an
inevitable component of moral choice.
General
Imprint: |
Louisiana State University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Political Traditions in Foreign Policy Series |
Release date: |
November 2001 |
First published: |
March 2002 |
Authors: |
Joel H Rosenthal
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 21mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
277 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8071-2804-6 |
Categories: |
Books >
Social sciences >
Politics & government >
General
|
LSN: |
0-8071-2804-X |
Barcode: |
9780807128046 |
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