Politics Among Nations

Rating:
Summary: Writing the review from a realist approach
Review: After reading Morgenthau's work, it is not much to criticize his clear and logical arguments on the structure and mechanism of international politics, except you are the staunch supporter of liberalism. The book, "Politics Among Nations", is articulated, well organized and integrated numerous crucial element of politics. The systematic presentation of the definition of national power, the limitations of national power and the ways to peace not only illustrates the historical development and the trend of international politics, but also brings some insights to the reader, thus, I would like to share the following views.

First, the classical theory of international relations, the balance of power is still powerful in explaining the world politics today, but there is limitation too. The theory fails to explain the state, who is not a member in the alliance system, not a buffer state, and not the balancer. However, the role of this state is indispensable in the system of balance of power, because of her certain influence among the other states. India is the best example to illustrate the above argument.

Powers with potentialities such as India has addressed that she would prefer a world that is structured in a multipolar way. Since the end of the Second World War, India has adopted the non-alignment policy. On one hand, India did not want to line up with the Soviet Union. On the other hand, India surely wanted to lay down her regional power status by resisting any inflow of American influence in India. The role of India in the system of balance of power is vague in the above situation, especially India became the leader of the non-alignment states with growing influence in the region. The United States and Soviet Union was a balance model in terms of political influence and military power, although India was totally no match with the two superpowers or two blocs, she still found an important role by extending her influence among the third world countries. In this case, there is a potential power who searches all the ways to become one of the blocs within the system, but the growing power of this state or this bloc is hardly to upset the existing balancing order.

Second, realist emphasizes on power, although they also examine the role of international morality or world public opinion in power politics, the definition of morality is not clearly drawn down, this lead to confusion when reader come across the role of morality. Indeed, no one will neglect the importance of international morality in international politics, however, besides what Morgenthau discussed "the protection of human life" or "human rights", are these all the content of international morality? Other than freedom, justice, human rights, democracy...Is it necessary and reasonable for all states to bear more moral responsibilities in the fields of environmental protection and fighting poverty? It means that the traditional realist did pay attention in morality and public opinion, but the scope of discussion was bounded in limited areas as they were named above. Basically, when the state's action fulfills the traditional standard of morality, her action will be legitimate, for example, the United States attacked Iraq only aimed to liberate the Iraqis from the authoritarian rule. But what about the United States refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol, continued to allow her numerous industries release the dominate amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, to damage the Earth, which is not belonged to American only, and to scarify the future of the next generation? Hence, the discussion on international morality is too narrow that the relationship between morality and power is not clear. For the first example, international morality such as democracy and human rights serve as an extension of national power rather than limitation, however, the weakness and inability of international morality and public opinion is shown in the second example, the state action is not limited or restricted by world opinion.

For a realist, it is rational to come to conclude that international morality is not always regarded as the limitation of national power, but international morality is one of the instruments to extend national power. It is important to stress that international morality plays an important role in world politics, however, it is not superior in guiding the state's action in international scene, especially when there is a clash of national interest and international morality, the latter will be given up for the importance of national interest.

Third, Morgenthau wrote a chapter on "nationalistic universalism", he regarded this as a new moral force in the coming years, to some extent, this contributed to the existing world order nowadays. "...the nationalistic universalism of our age claims for one nation and one state the right to impose its own valuations and standards of action upon all the other nations"(p.273). It powerfully explains the ideological conflict of the two superpowers during the Cold War, and also illustrates the motives of the foreign policy of the United States nowadays. Last but not least, Morgenthau successfully predicted that a united Western Europe will form in order to strengthen its power in resisting the nationalistic universalism from the other states, and expand its influence to the others through nationalistic universalism. The significance of the nationalistic universalism is that the new moral force in international politics is not based on the mutual respect of all nations, but by building up and maneuvering the international moral norms with the amount of capability of power.


Rating:
Summary: My confession
Review: Firstly, I haven't read this text-yet. However, when I do, it will be one of the earlier versions. This is because this text was recommended to me, by name, at a conference I attended, in Washington.

Rating:
Summary: The New Testament of Real-Politik
Review: Forget about this book if it matters for you to have happy endings at movies; but ignore it at your own peril. Morgenthau has captured the essence of political realism many times over in this book. His calm, controlled and authoritative exposition of the power relations between states makes "Politics Among Nations" one of the best "non-fiction" publications of the century. For the academically minded it is an easy read, for a student of political realism a must.

Rating:
Summary: very interesting introduction into international relations
Review: Hans Morgenthau is the "Iching" of all international relations authors. He sets the precedents for all future relations with his analysis of the political environment throughout the world. He discusses the status quo, imperialism, neo-realism, moralism, diplomacy, disarmament, international governments, universalism, etc... This book is definitely a must read for any student intending on success in international relations.

Rating:
Summary: very interesting introduction into international relations
Review: Hans Morgenthau is the "Iching" of all international relations authors. He sets the precedents for all future relations with his analysis of the political environment throughout the world. He discusses the status quo, imperialism, neo-realism, moralism, diplomacy, disarmament, international governments, universalism, etc... This book is definitely a must read for any student intending on success in international relations.

Rating:
Summary: very interesting introduction into international relations
Review: Hans Morgenthau is the "Iching" of all international relations authors. He sets the precedents for all future relations with his analysis of the political environment throughout the world. He discusses the status quo, imperialism, neo-realism, moralism, diplomacy, disarmament, international governments, universalism, etc... This book is definitely a must read for any student intending on success in international relations.

Rating:
Summary: A classic of political realism
Review: Hans Morgenthau is, together with E.H.Carr, among the key 20th century thinkers who studied international relations and developed what is today called classical realism (as opposed to structural- or neo-realism - see Kenneth Waltz). Classical realism claims an ancient ancestry beginning with the History of the Peloponesian War by Thucydides, and including thinkers like Maciaveli and Clausewitz, as well as Ralf Niebur. Briefly, the proponents of this line of thinking claim that 1) states are the only actors of significance in international relations; 2) that because there is no single world government, international relations are characterized by self-help- if states wish to survive they should ever be ready for war; 3) 'power' in this sense becomes both a means (to survival) and an end in itself -- states struggle to aggrandize their power; 4) because of all this, international relations are primarily a realm of conflict, not cooperation; 5) this sorry state of affairs stems from the evil nature of man which is essentially unchangeable (see St. Augustine, City of God, for a forceful argument in this vein). Given all this, Morgenthau claims that any politician who does not take the above points seriously is acting under dangerous delusions. Because most statesmen do act in this way, he, says, reading his book will allow the reader to be able 'to look over the shoulder' of any leader and understand their decisions. Whether one agrees or not with these views, the book is indispensible for any serious student of international politics. For further interest one may wish to read both scholars who have advanced the realist tradition in international relations in new directions (see esp. Kenneth Waltz, Theory of International Politics; Robert Jervis, Perception and Misperception..., and System Effects; Jack Snyder, Myths of Empire; and Michael Doyle, Ways of War and Peace) and critics of this tradition (esp. Robert Keohane, Neorealism and Its Critics, After Hegemony, and (with J.Nye) Power and Interdependence, as well as David Baldwin, ed., Neorealism and Neoliberalism). I admit that the book is densely written, but with the right roadmap, it is an enjoyable read. In fact, if you wish to find it even more useful, you may begin with E.H.Carr, The Twenty Years' Crisis, which is elegantly written, a real pleasure to read, and which is a very clear statement of the main arguments of realism.

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Summary: Political Realism in the Modern World?
Review: I used this book for a class in International Relations last semester, and I must admit that I was quite impressed. Morgenthau provides us with a sound and instructive discussion of the way international politics is functioning from a realist ponit of view; he also supports his argument with nice and useful examples. I do think, however, that he occasionally goes into extremes and uses terminology that does not entirely apply to the present day international situation, which might render his work somewhat incomplete. I believe the problem lies in the relevance of these issues to the modern political world: now that the Cold War is at least officially over, a new approach to politics is needed to fill in the gaps that Morgenthau fails to address. One might also encounter problem with the readability of some of the chapters, especially if not a native English speaker like me, but, all in all, it is well written and structured. I would recommend this book as an absolutely necessary reading for everybody pursuing interests in international politics.

Rating:
Summary: THE standard for International Relations Theory
Review: I was assigned this book and I must say it is one of the few I read and actually enjoyed, clear and to the point it serves as a perfect primer of the system that exists today. Although over 50 years old, it still holds true in all aspects.

Rating:
Summary: THE standard for International Relations Theory
Review: I was assigned this book and I must say it is one of the few I read and actually enjoyed, clear and to the point it serves as a perfect primer of the system that exists today. Although over 50 years old, it still holds true in all aspects.