Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:36:24.987Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The (classical) Realist vision of global reform

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2010

William E. Scheuerman
William E. Scheuerman*
Affiliation:
Departments of Political Science and West European Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA
*
*E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Most Realists today oppose far-reaching global reform on the grounds that it represents unrealistic and potentially irresponsible ‘utopianism’. An earlier generation of mid-century Realists, however, not only supported serious efforts at radical international reform but also developed a theoretically impressive model for how to bring it about. They considered the possibility of post-national political orders and ultimately a world state as desirable long-term goals, but only if reformers could simultaneously generate the thick societal background (or what they called ‘supranational society’) required by any viable order ‘beyond the nation state’. As they fail to engage constructively with proposals for global reform, present-day Realists betray their own intellectual tradition. By reconsidering the subterranean legacy of Realist reformism as advanced by mid-century international thinkers (e.g. E.H. Carr, John Herz, Hans Morgenthau, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Frederick Schuman), the essay provides a revisionist reading of the history of twentieth-century international theory, while also highlighting its significance for ongoing debates about global reform.

Keywords

Realismworld stateglobal reformReinhold NiebuhrHans MorgenthauE.H. Carr
Type
Original Papers
Information
International Theory , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , July 2010 , pp. 246 - 282
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adler, E.Barnett, M. (eds) (1998), Security Communities, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Archibugi, D. (2008), The Global Commonwealth of Citizens, Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Aron, R. (1966), Peace and War: A Theory of International Relations (translated by R. Howard and A. Baker Fox), New York: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Ashley, R. (1981), ‘Political realism and human interests’, International Studies Quarterly 25: 204–236.Google Scholar
Bell, D. (2009), Political Thought and International Relations: Variations on a Realist Theme, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Booth, K. (1991), ‘Security in anarchy: Utopian realism in theory and practice’, International Affairs 67: 527–545.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Booth, K. (2008), ‘Navigating the “absolute novum”: John H. Herz’s political realism and political idealism’, International Relations 22: 510–526.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Booth, K.Wheeler, N.J. (2008), The Security Dilemma: Fear, Cooperation and Trust in World Politics, New York: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Brinson, S. (2004), The Red Scare, Politics, and the Federal Communications Commission, 1940–1960, Westport, CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
Bucklin, S.K. (2001), Realism and American Foreign Policy: Wilsonians and the Kennan-Morgenthau Thesis, Westport: Praeger.Google Scholar
Buzan, B. (2004), From International to World Society? English School Theory and the Social Structure of Globalization, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Calhoun, C. (2007), ‘The class consciousness of frequent travellers: towards a critique of actually existing cosmopolitanism’, in D. Archibugi (ed.), Debating Cosmopolitics, London: Verso, pp. 86–116.Google Scholar
Carr, E.H. (1942), Conditions of Peace, London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Carr, E.H. (1947), The Soviet Impact on the Western World, New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Carr, E.H. (1949), ‘The moral foundations for world order’, in Foundations for World Order, Denver: University of Denver Press, pp. 53–76.Google Scholar
Carr, E.H. (1964 [1939]), The Twenty Years’ Crisis, 1919–1939, New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Carr, E.H. (1967 [1945]), Nationalism and After, London: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Carr, E.H. (2003 [1953]), ‘Karl Mannheim’, in From Napolean to Stalin and Other Essays, New York: Palgrave, pp. 177–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Claude, I.L. (1971), Swords into Plowshares: The Problems and Progress of International Organization, New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Cox, M. (2000), E.H. Carr: A Critical Appraisal, New York: Palgrave.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cozette, M. (2008a), ‘Reclaiming the critical dimension of realism: Hans J. Morgenthau on the ethics of scholarship’, Review of International Studies 34: 5–27.Google Scholar
Cozette, M. (2008b), ‘What lies ahead: classical realism on the future of international relations’, International Studies Review 10: 667–679.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, C. (2003), Glimmer of a New Leviathan: Total War in the Realism of Niebuhr, Morgenthau, and Waltz, New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, C. (2008), ‘The resurgent idea of World government’, Ethics and International Affairs 22(2): 133–142.Google Scholar
Deudney, D. (2007), Bounding Power: Republican Security Theory from the Polis to Global Village, Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Dickson, P.W. (1978), Kissinger and the Meaning of History, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Donnelly, J. (2000), Realism and International Relations, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunne, T. (1998), Inventing International Society: A History of the English School, London: MacMillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunne, T. (2000), ‘Theories as weapons: E.H. Carr and international relations’, in M. Cox (ed.), E.H. Carr: A Critical Appraisal, New York: Palgrave, pp. 217–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eastby, J. (1985), Functionalism and Interdependence, Latham, MD: University Press.Google Scholar
Fox, R.W. (1985), Reinhold Niebuhr: A Biography, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Halliday, F.Rosenberg, J. (1989), ‘Interview with Kenneth Waltz’, Review of International Studies 24: 371–386.Google Scholar
Haslam, J. (1999), The Vices of Integrity: E.H. Carr, 1892–1982, London: Verso.Google Scholar
Haslam, J. (2002), No Virtue Like Necessity: Realist Thought in International Relations since Machiavelli, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Held, D. (1995), Democracy and the Global Order: from the Modern State to Cosmopolitan Governance, Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Herz, J. (1951), Political Realism and Political Idealism, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Herz, J. (1959), International Politics in the Atomic Age, New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herz, J. (1976 [1968]), ‘The territorial state revisited – reflections on the future of the nation-state’ in The Nation-State and the Crisis of World Politics, New York: David McKay, pp. 226–252.Google Scholar
Herz, J. (1984), Vom überleben. Wie ein Welbild entstand. Autobiographie, Düsseldord: Droste Verlag.Google Scholar
Hook, S. (1937), ‘Liberalism and the Case of Leon Trotsky’, Southern Review 3(2): 267–282.Google Scholar
Howe, P. (1994), ‘The Utopian realism of E.H. Carr’, Review of International Studies 20: 277–297.Google Scholar
Jones, C. (1998), E.H. Carr and International Relations: A Duty to Lie, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kissinger, H.A. (1957), A World Restored: Metternich, Castlereagh, and the Problems of Peace 1812–22, New York: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
League of Professional Groups for Foster and Ford (1932), Culture and Crisis, New York: Workers Library Publishing.Google Scholar
Lebow, R.N. (2003), The Tragic Vision of Politics: Ethics, Interests and Orders, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lebow, R.N. (2010), ‘German Jews and American Realism’, Constellations (forthcoming).Google Scholar
Linklater, A. (2000), ‘E.H. Carr, nationalism and the future of the Sovereign State’, in M. Cox (ed.), E.H. Carr: A Critical Appraisal, New York: Palgrave, pp. 234–257.Google Scholar
Little, R. (2003), ‘The English School vs. American realism: a meeting of minds or divided by a common language’, Review of International Studies 29: 443–460.Google Scholar
Little, R. (2007), The Balance of Power in International Relations: Metaphors, Myth and Models, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lu, C. (2006). ‘World Government’, in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 26 March 2010 from plato.stanford.edu/entries/world-government/Google Scholar
Mann, M. (1993), The Sources of Social Power. Volume II. The Rise of Classes and Nation-States, 1760–1914, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mazower, M. (2009), No Enchanted Palace: The End of Empire and the Ideological Origins of the United Nations, Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Mearsheimer, J. (1994), ‘The false promise of international institutions’, International Security 19: 5–49.Google Scholar
Merkley, P. (1975), Reinhold Niebuhr: A Political Account, Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitrany, D. (1946), A Working Peace System, London: National Peace Council.Google Scholar
Mitrany, D. (1975), The Functional Theory of Politics, London: Martin Robertson.Google Scholar
Morgenthau, H. (1944), ‘The limitations of science and the problem of social planning’, Ethics LIV: 174–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgenthau, H. (1948a), ‘The political science of E.H. Carr’, World Politics 1(1): 127–134.Google Scholar
Morgenthau, H. (1948b [1954]), Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace, 2nd edn, New York: Alfred Knopf.Google Scholar
Morgenthau, H. (1966), ‘Introduction’, in Mitrany, A Working Peace System, Chicago: Quadrangle Books.Google Scholar
Morgenthau, H. (1970 [1964]). ‘The future of Europe’, in Truth and Power: Essays of a Decade, 1960–70, New York: Praeger, pp. 332–339.Google Scholar
Morgenthau, H.Niebuhr, R. (1967), ‘The ethics of war and peace in the nuclear age’, War/Peace Report 7(February): 3–8.Google Scholar
Murray, A. (1997), Reconstructing Realism: between Power Politics and Cosmopolitan Ethics, Edinburgh: Keelse University Press.Google Scholar
Niebuhr, R. (1934), Reflections on the End of an Era, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.Google Scholar
Niebuhr, R. (1942), ‘The problem of power’, The Nation 42–43.Google Scholar
Niebuhr, R. (1946), ‘The Russian adventure’, The Nation 232–234.Google Scholar
Niebuhr, R. (1953 [1948]), Christian Realism and Political Problems, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.Google Scholar
Niebuhr, R. (1965), Man’s Nature and His Communities, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.Google Scholar
Niebuhr, R. (1967a [1942]), ‘Plans for world reorganization’, in D.B. Robertson (ed.), Love and Justice: Selections from the Shorter Writings of Reinhold Niebuhr, Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1976, pp. 206–213.Google Scholar
Niebuhr, R. (1967c [1943]), ‘American power and world responsibility’, in D.B. Robertson (ed.), Love and Justice: Selections from the Shorter Writings, Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1976, pp. 200–206.Google Scholar
Niebuhr, R. (1967d [1945]). ‘The San Francisco Conference’, in D.B. Robertson (ed.), Love and Justice: Selections from the Shorter Writings, Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1976, pp. 213–215.Google Scholar
Niebuhr, R. (1967e [1953]). ‘Can we organize the world?’, in D.B. Robertson (ed.), Love and Justice: Selections from the Shorter Writings, Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1976, pp. 216–217.Google Scholar
Niebuhr, R.Schuman, F. (1942), ‘The federation of the free/no adequate blueprint’, The Nation 103.Google Scholar
Niebuhr, R.Schuman, F. (1946), ‘Professor Schuman protests/Dr. Niebuhr replies’, The Nation 383.Google Scholar
Oren, I. (2003), Our Enemies and US: America’s Rivalries and the Making of Political Science, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Oren, I. (2009), ‘The unreason of contemporary realism: the tension between realist theory and realists’ practice’, Perspectives on Politics 7(2): 283–301.Google Scholar
Oshinsky, D.M. (1983), A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy, New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Pells, R. (1973), Radical Visions and American Dreams: Culture and Social Thought in the Depression Years, New York: Harper.Google Scholar
Pells, R. (1985), The Liberal Mind in a Conservative Age, Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.Google Scholar
Puglierin, J (ed.) (2008). International Relations (special issue on John Herz) 22: 4.Google Scholar
Rich, P. (2000), ‘E.H. Carr and the quest for moral revolution in international relations’, in M. Cox (ed.), E.H. Carr: A Critical Appraisal, New York: Palgrave, pp. 198–216.Google Scholar
Rosa, H.Scheuerman, W. (2009), High-speed Society: Social Acceleration, Power, and Modernity, University Park: Penn State Press.Google Scholar
Sagan, S.Waltz, K. (2003), The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate Renewed, Norton: New York.Google Scholar
Scheuerman, W. (2009), Hans Morgenthau: Realism and Beyond, Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Schuman, F. (1928), American Policy Toward Russia Since 1917: A Study of Diplomatic History, International Law & Public Opinion, New York: International Publishers.Google Scholar
Schuman, F. (1930), ‘The Soviets’, The New Republic 51–52.Google Scholar
Schuman, F. (1931), War and Diplomacy in the French Republic: An Inquiry into Political Motivations and the Control of Foreign Policy, New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Schuman, F. (1933), International Politics: An Introduction to the Western State System, New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Schuman, F. (1935), The Nazi Dictatorship: A Study in Social Pathology and the Politics of Fascism, New York: Alfred Knopf.Google Scholar
Schuman, F. (1936a), ‘Fascism: Nemesis of civilization’, Southern Review 2(1): 126–132.Google Scholar
Schuman, F. (1936b), ‘Liberalism and communism reconsidered’, Southern Review 2(2): 326–338.Google Scholar
Schuman, F. (1937a), Germany Since 1918, New York: Henry Holt.Google Scholar
Schuman, F. (1937b), ‘Leon Trotsky: Martyr or Renegade?’, Southern Review 3(1): 51–74.Google Scholar
Schuman, F. (1939), Europe on the Eve: The Crisis of Diplomacy, 1933–39, New York: Alfred Knopf.Google Scholar
Schuman, F. (1941a), Design for Peace: The Struggle for the World, New York: Alfred Knopf.Google Scholar
Schuman, F. (1941b), International Politics: The Western State System in Transition, New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Schuman, F. (1941c), Night Over Europe: The Diplomacy of Nemesis, 1939–40, New York: Alfred Knopf.Google Scholar
Schuman, F. (1943), ‘“Bill of Attainder” in the Seventy-Eight Congress’, American Political Science Review 37(5): 819–829.Google Scholar
Schuman, F. (1946), Soviet Politics, at Home and Abroad, New York: Alfred Knopf.Google Scholar
Schuman, F. (1952), The Commonwealth of Man: An Inquiry into Power Politics and World Government, New York: Alfred Knopf.Google Scholar
Shaw, M. (1994), Global Society and International Relations, Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Shils, E. (2000), A Fragment of a Sociological Autobiography, New Brunswick: Transaction.Google Scholar
Smith, M. (1986), Realist Thought from Weber to Kissinger, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.Google Scholar
Stirk, P. (2005), ‘John H. Herz: realism and the fragility of the international order’, Review of International Studies 31: 285–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, P. (1975), ‘Introduction’, in Mitrany, The Functional Theory of Politics, London: Martin Robertson, pp. ix–xxv.Google Scholar
Tillich, P. (1956 [1932]), The Religious Situation (translated by H.R. Niebuhr) New York: Meridian Books.Google Scholar
Tjalve, V.S. (2008), Realist Strategies of Republican Peace: Niebuhr, Morgenthau, and the Politics of Patriotic Dissent, New York: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Trager, F. (1940), ‘Frederick L. Schuman: A Case History’, Partisan Review 7: 143–151.Google Scholar
Turner, S. (2009), ‘Hans J. Morgenthau and the legacy of Max Weber’, in D. Bell (ed.), Political Thought and International Relations, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 63–82.Google Scholar
US Congress (1943). Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States: Hearings before a Special Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, Seventy-Eighth Congress, First Session, Vol. 7 [Tuesday March 30, 1943]: 3087–3192.Google Scholar
Waltz, K. (1959), Man, the State, and War, New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Waltz, K. (1979), Theory of International Politics, New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Weiss, T. (2008), What’s Wrong with the UN and What Can We Do About It? Cambridge, UK: Polity.Google Scholar
Wendt, A. (1999), Social Theory of International Politics, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wendt, A. (2003), ‘Why a world state is inevitable’, European Journal of International Relations 9(4): 491–542.Google Scholar
Wheeler, N.J. (2008), ‘ “To put oneself into the other fellow’s place”: John Herz, the security dilemma and the nuclear age’, International Relations 22: 493–509.Google Scholar
Williams, M. (2005), The Realist Tradition and the Limits of International Relations, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Williams, M. (2007), Realism Reconsidered: The Legacy of Hans J. Morgenthau in International Re au in International Relations, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wittner, L. (1993), One World or None: A History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement Through 1953, Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Wooley, W. (1988), Alternatives to Anarchy: American Supranationalism since World War II, Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Zolo, D. (1997), Cosmopolis: Prospects for World Government, Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.Google Scholar