Over the course of the preceding chapters, I have attempted to show that questions of the construction of action, and its ethical and political evaluation, lie at the core of the wilful Realist tradition. This final chapter seeks to demonstrate how this is expressed in two key and continuingly controversial Realist concepts: the ethic of responsibility and the national interest. The relationship between these two concepts is at the heart of many understandings of Realist ethics. In its most straightforward form, the national interest is seen to provide the value to be pursued and defended, while a foreign policy limited to and by the pursuit of that national interest and a prudent consequentialism provides a responsible limit on state action. While this certainly captures important aspects of the Realist position, I will suggest that it fails to capture either the complexity or the continuing significance of wilful Realism's engagement with the question of responsibility and its ethic of the national interest.

In order to recover some of this complexity, I develop an understanding of the ethic of responsibility that reflects the sceptical and relational dimensions of wilful Realism. In this view, the concentration on consequences reflects more than simple prudence and calculations of instrumental efficiency; it is also a tactic that attempts to encourage self-reflection by actors about the values and interests they pursue, and to foster the construction of responsible selves and political orders.