Professional Documents
Culture Documents
POLITICS
Enduring Concepts and
Contemporary Issues
NINTH EDITION
ROBERT J. ART
Brandeis UlIh:ersity
ROBERT JERVIS
Columbia UlIh:ersity
"'W
'"
ill
Montre'al
selfish indi\idual actions. l\lorl'OHT. (:'\'<:>11 if' Illost states desire Olll\- to k(ep what
their OWl! interests dict,lte that the\' band to(tether in order to r('sist am
stat!:' or coalition of states that threat<: 'IlS 10 do'lllinnie 11~;1l1.
.
The balallce-()f~n()wpr S\'stelll is likely to prl'H:'lll ,lll\' 01\(' state:~ acquirillg
bCllefit all states c<]ualk 1101' lllailltain t11(:> peace
because of inequalities in power and exper
tise. \Vars \\ill oceur hccause thc\' art' one means by which statl:'s call pH'Sen'(' what
what the'\" covel. S 111 all states may eH'll lw eliminated by their
more powertllillt'ighbors, TIlt' illternational system will be
if states flock to what they think is the
or the dOlllino theory argiles that
.
slIccessful age;ression will attmct Illany f()lIowers. either out of fear or out of a desire
to share the spoils of
pown theory and
under most
in thei r lot wit h the
to preH>nt all:
making it easier tor each state to see whether others are Ii\"
or
\)\
as
must also
prOillises, and increasing the costs the state \\'ill pa: if it cheats. In
section of this
we will discuss how institutions can contribllte to
gOH'rnance under currcnt
(,:\<llllillatioll of the
From
>-\iilOJI_~ ;\'otiolls
hy
f (all\ J. \iorgenthall.
AIt,.prl,\, Knopf. a
of Handol1\ Honse. lllC,
,........
('OllseqU(,llCt'S of these acts. Thus we call find out what stateslllen IHtvt' actu<11k
done, and fi'om the l<Jrest't'ahk cOlls('(flH'IICes of their acts we can surmise what
ohj("d ives might han' heell.
Yet ('xilminatioll of the hlds is not t'llough. To gin' meaning to the tilctllal raw
material of foreign polic\. we must approach political reality with a kind of rational
a lllap tllat sllggt'sts to liS thl~ possible l1lcanillgs of foreigll polic'\'. Jn
ollrsekes in the position of a statl'Small who I1ll1st !lIt'l?t 11 (,f'{'tain
prohlem of foreign policy ullder c(>rtain circUlllstanees. and \\'(' ask ourseh-es
the rational alternatiq:'s an hom which a slatc'slllan lllav choosl' who lIlllst Illt'et
this problem under thesc' circllmstanc'es (presuming :d\\,<l\,s that he ads ill a
rationalm<ll1ner), and which (' ..
llnder these
J
has
we read
ill terms of inlerest defined as powe]', we
thoughts and
himself:
0\\11
or
<
to the t)1)ical influences they exelt IIpon foreign poliey. Yet it shares with
the need, fi)r the sakf' of theoretical understanding, to stress the
rational elf'ments of politieal [eality; for it is these rational elements that make 1'f'<1I
intelligihle for theory. Political rf'alism presents the tiJt'ort'tical construct of a
rational foreign policy which experience can never completely achieve.
At the same time political realism eonsiders a rational f()reign policy to be
good foreign policy; for only a rational foreign policy minimizes risks and maxi
hoth with the moral precept of prudence and
requirement of success. Political realism wants the photographic
ture of the political world to resemble as much as possible its painted nlH'h. it
Aware of the ine\itable gap between good-that is, rational-foreign
policy as it actuall: is, political realism maintains not only that
foclls upon the rational elements of political reality, but also that
ought to be rational in \ lew of its own moral and practical pUlvoses.
Hence, it is no argument
the theory here presented that actual
policy does not or cannot live up to it. That argllment misuuderstands the intention
of this book, which is to presellt not an iudiscriminate description of political realinvalidated bv the
a rational theory of international politics. Far from
that, for instance, a perfect
realitv, it assumes that realitv,
and ~valuated as an approxil;1ation to an ideal
3. Realism assumes that its ke:' cOllC'ept 01 interest denned as power is an
'.'tive category which is universally valid, but it does not <'Hdow that ('o"r>o~"
a meaning that is fixed once and for all. The idea of interest is indeed
essence of polities and is unaffected I)\' the ci rcu III stances of timp
statement, born of the e>..veliences of ancient Greece, that
.
interests is the surest of bonds wbether between states or individuals" was taken up
in the nineteenth century lw Lord Salisburv's remark that "the onlv bond of union
that endures" among ll~ti(;I1S is 'the abs~nce of all clashing ill'tercsts." It was
erected into a general plineiple of government h:' George vVashington:
A small knowledge ofllUlllan nature \\ill ('omillCP lIS, that. with far thp greatest part of
mankind, interest is the governing pJilldple; and that almost pvery man is more or less,
Illlder its influence. Motiles of puhlic drtue may for a hnlf', or in
actuate mcn to the observance of a conduct purely disilltprpsted:
persc\'ering cOllf<mnity to the refined
themseil'cs sufficient to
obligatiollS of social duty. Fcw mcn arc capable of making a continual sacrificc of
,;ews of pIivate intercst. or ,Hh',mtage, to the common
It is \'ain to exdailll
the depnl\ity ofhumal1l1atllfP on this aC'count: the
is so. thc experienee of
pvery age and nation has pn)l'cd it and We' lllUSt in a great llleasnre,
tution of man, belorc we can make it otherwise. No institntioll, lIot
S1lll1pth'c truth of these' m<1,xims call sl1C'ceecl. 1
It was
ami
actions l11ming.
,.....
its LIse are determined by the political and cultuml em iron l11el1t. Power may
comprise anything that establishes and maintains the control or man over man.
Thus power cov{'rs all social relationships whic:h servt' that end, from
lenee to the most subtle psychological ties by which one mind
mtion of lllall by man, both when it is
constitutional
as in \Vestem
when it is that untamed and barbaric force which finds its laws in nothing but its
own strength and its sole justification in its aggrandiz{'llIent.
Political realism docs not assume that the cont('mporar:' conditions under
and the ever present
cannot be changed. The balance of power, tor
element of all pluralistic societies, as the authors of
knew; vet it is capahle of operating, as it does in the
conditions of relative stability and j1eaeE''ul eonfliC't. If the
riSE' to tll{'se conditions can be duplicated on the inter
national scene, similar conditions of stability amI peace will then pre\'tiil there, ,15
they have over long stretches of history among certain nations.
vVllat is true of the 2"eneral eharacter of international relations is also true of
the nation state as the
point of reference of
\Vhilt, the realist
believes that interest is the
political action mllst be judged and directed, the
('Ol1nection
between interest and the nation state is a proclnct
hound
to disappear in the courSe of his tor\'. Nothing
realist position militates
the political world into natioll
against the assumption that the present
different character. more ill
states will he replaeed by larger units of a
with the technical potentialities and
requirements of the cOlltelllpo
rar)' world.
The re~llist parts company 'with other schools
question of how the contemporar\' world is to be tmnsf(mnecl. The realist is per
suaded that
transformation can be achie\'ed only through the workmanlike
of the nerennial forces that 11<l\'e shaped the past as they will tht'
we can bring about that transfonna
its own
tion
that
lav\'s into aCCOllnt.
4. Political realism is aware of the moral significance of political aetiOll. It is
also aware of the ineluctable tension between
moral command and the
requirements of sllccessful political action. And it is unwilling to
obliterate that tension and thus to obfuscate both the moral and the political issue
by making it appear as though the stark facts of politics were llloralk more
actually are, amI the 111 0 ral law less exacting than it act II ally is.
th rough the C'OIHTt'te circulllstances of tillK' and plaee. The iI~di\idllal ma~'
Il)r himself: "Fiat jl/stitia, pamt 111111/(1118 (Letjllstke Iw dOlle, eH'!l irthe world
p~rish)," hut the statc" has no right to sa;-' so in the nallle OfthOSl' who are in its cart'.
Hild statc' must judgE' political action by llllh'ersal moral
as that of liberh. YE't while the i!l(lhidual has a moral right to
in defense of such a moral principle. the statE' has 110 right to let its moral disappro
batioll of til' in/i'ingernellt of Iiherty gE't in the way of successful politieal action,
1)\ the moral principle ofn<ltional sunivaJ. There can be no
without prudence; that is. without cOllSiclE'ration of the political conse
of seE'llIinglv moral action, Rpalisll1, then, considers prudence-the
weighing of the consequences of alternative political actions-to be
SHY
I do the WIY best I kIlO\\' ho\\', the I'er\ best I C1III. and I mean to keep doing so uutil
elld. Ifthp end hrillgs lilt:' Ollt all right. what is said against me won't amount to
the emll)Jings me out mung, ten angels s\\,(c'ming I was light would make no
,5. Political
tll('
6. The differeu(:(', then, between political realism and ot her sehools of thought
is
and it is profound, H owevel' ll1lJ(:h tl1(' theory of political realism may han'
been misunderstood ami lllisintcl1)J"('ted. tilere is lIO gUillsavinl! its clistillcti\'e intel
and moral attitude to matters,
the political realist maintains the autonomy of the political
sphere, as the economist, tllp hm'!er, the l1loralist maintain theirs. He thinks in
ter!l1S of interest defined as power, as the eeonOlllist thillks in terms of interest
as wealth; the lawyer, of the conformity of (1('ti011 with legal rules; the
moralist, of the conform it\' of action with moral principles. The t:'collOlnist asks.
"How does this policy aHed tltt' wealth of society, or a seglll(>nt of it?" The la\\'!'er
asks: "Is this policy in accord with the rules oflaw'~" The moralist asks: "Is this
accord \vith moral principles"?" And the politleal realist asks: "How does this
alTeet thc power of the natioll?" (Or of the j'pdpral gO\'ernnwnt.
of the parly, of agriculture. as the cast' may be.)
The political realist is not unmvare of the existE'IlCe and relevance of staudards
other than political ones. As political realist. he cannot but subordillate
standards to those of politics, And he parts company \\ith other schools
standards of thollILht appropriate to other spllt'res upon the
when
political
its su!l\'E'r
This realist defense
sion by other modes of thought does not
other modes
impOitallee of
aSSigned its proper sphere and function, Political realism is based upon a pluralistiC
conception of human nature. Real mall is a composite of "economic mall,"
ieal man, "llloralllHlI1," "rpligiol1s IlHIl1," etc. A lmlll who was llothin2: hut
man" would be a heast. for h(' would he colllpletely
man who was nothing hut "moral man" wOlild be a
pleteh-Iacking in prlldence. A man who was nothing but "religions man" would be
a saint, for he would be completE'l~ lacking ill worldl\' desires.
Recognizing that these di/'f('rent fi1Cets of human nature exist. political
recognizes that in order to lllHlerstand 011(' of them ol1e has to deal with it 011
man:' I must for the
its own terms. That is to say, if I \\'al1t to understand
nature and deal with its reli
from
other aspects of
to the
as if it were the
standards of thought
existence of other standards and
of man. What is true of tllis htcet
ern economist for instance, would conceh'e of his seiellce and its relations to other
.
.
sllch a proCE'SS of
tioll from other standards of thought. and the dE'\'elopmellt of one
its subject mattt:'f, that E'collomics has dew'loped as all autonomOliS theory of the
(:'('"ol10111ic actiyities of man, To contrihute to a similar de\'elopl1wnt ill the Geld of
is indeed the purpose of political realism.
It is in the nature of thillgs that a theory of politics ",bieb is based IIpon such
principles \\ill not meet with unanimous appro\'al-nor does. for that matter, such a
foreign nolie\'. For theon and nolic\' alike rnn cmmt('r to two trends in om culture
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