MORGENTHAU’S SIX PRINCIPLES

5 MORGENTHAU’S SIX PRINCIPLES

6 1 Political realism believes that politics, like society in general, is

governed by objective laws that have their roots in human nature.

8 2 The main signpost that helps political realism find its way through

9 the landscape of international politics is the concept of interest

10 defined in terms of power.

1 3 Realism assumes that its key concept of interest defined as power

2 is an objective category which is universally valid.

3 4 Political realism is aware of the moral significance of political

4 action. . . . while the individual has the moral right to sacrifice

5 himself in defense of [such] a moral principle, the state has

6 no right to let its moral disapprobation . . . get in the way of

7 successful political action, itself inspired by the moral principle

822 of national survival.

9 5 Political Realism refuses to identify the moral aspirations of a

20 particular nation with the moral laws that govern the universe.

. . . To know that nations are subject to the moral law is one thing,

2 while to pretend to know with certainty what is good and evil in

3 the relations among nations is quite another. . . . it is exactly the

4 concept of interest defined in terms of power that saves us from

5 moral excess and that political folly.

6 6 The political realist maintains the autonomy of the political sphere,

7 as the economist, the lawyer, the moralist maintain theirs.

8 (Morgenthau 1985 [1948]: 4–14)

30 The key message that we can draw from the whole approach is that

1 realism is necessarily a simplification of the world. It is intended to

2 close off a manageable area of study and to focus on its core features

3 rather than to be an exhaustive theory of world affairs. Politics is

4 to be considered distinct from law, morality and economics and we

5 are asked to focus on the basic concept of political interaction (power)

6 as opposed to the basic concepts of law, morality or economics (point

7 6). There is also the idea that politics is somehow more realistic than

822 the other disciplines which must cleave to the political.

48 R EALISM : THE BASICS HUMAN NATURE Morgenthau’s contribution to the realist tradition must be assessed

in terms of three key ideas – human nature, power and interest – and one general theme, the balance of power. The idea that human nature is fixed and has a defining impact on the way we conduct world politics is an interesting one. If world politics is simply human nature ‘writ large’ we must work out what human nature is. The realist view is that human nature is inherently self-interested which gives us a tendency to conflict. The history of political thought is littered with competing yet compelling accounts of human nature. The Hobbesian account of human nature that features so heavily in the realist tradition is challenged in its entirety by those who see compassion, morality, sociability rather than fear and self-interest as key features of human nature. There are, of course, plenty of examples of humans behaving appallingly to one another. What you must consider is whether this is something that is necessarily a feature of human nature and therefore something that we must take in to account when thinking about how states will act in world affairs. This requires that you accept that we can discover what human nature is and that it is fixed. It also requires that you accept that it is human nature and not our social and political context that determines how we act.

INTEREST DEFINED IN TERMS OF POWER The key argument for classical realists is that human nature is

egoistical or selfish and therefore we should concentrate on how humans pursue their own interests. Focusing on how humans acquire the power to satisfy their interests thus gets right to the heart of the matter. Recall now Morgenthau’s third principle. He goes on to argue that both the concept of interest and the concept of power are abstract ideas. There is no timeless or universal understanding of interest or what humans desire and no timeless and universal understanding of the means to attaining the objects of interest. Interest and the tools of power will differ over time and over history. Nevertheless we can be assured that humans will attempt to achieve their interests and will employ whatever power is at their disposal to do so. Because we can make this assumption we can define interest in terms of power. A state that is very powerful will have interests

R EALISM : THE BASICS

1 consistent with that power. The ability of a powerful state to stand

2 above the compromises of world politics or to dictate its terms using

3 its navy, genuine nuclear capability or merely its economic and

4 political self-sufficiency is well evidenced by history. For this reason

5 it is important, argued Morgenthau, to understand the elements

6 of power which he lists as geography, natural resources, industrial

capacity, military preparedness, population, national character and

8 morale, and quality of diplomacy and government (Morgenthau 1985:

9 127–169). The pessimism that comes from the recognition that states

10 will act on interests that are limited solely by their relative power

1 is clear but should not be overstated. Morgenthau is clear that a

2 realist grasp of the facts of international politics has had, and could

3 continue to have, genuine benefits for the stability of international

4 society. Indeed he sees the balance of power, based on an intellectual

5 and moral consensus in the community of nations (Morgenthau 1985:

6 237, 240), as the mechanism that sustains such stability.