The Realist Tradition and the Limits of International Relations

An important reexamination of the Realist tradition and its relevance for contemporary international relations.

Michael C. Williams (Author)

9780521534758, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 6 January 2005

254 pages
22.8 x 15.5 x 1.5 cm, 0.38 kg

'This book makes an important contribution to recent efforts to reinterpret realism.' Political Studies Review

Realism is commonly portrayed as theory that reduces international relations to pure power politics. Michael Williams provides an important reexamination of the Realist tradition and its relevance for contemporary international relations. Examining three thinkers commonly invoked as Realism's foremost proponents - Hobbes, Rousseau, and Morgenthau - the book shows that, far from advocating a crude realpolitik, Realism's most famous classical proponents actually stressed the need for a restrained exercise of power and a politics with ethics at its core. These ideas are more relevant than ever at a time when the nature of responsible responses to international problems are at the centre of contemporary political debate. This original interpretation of major thinkers will interest scholars of international relations and the history of ideas.

Introduction
1. Sceptical states: Hobbes
2. Rousseau, realism and realpolitik
3. Hans Morgenthau and the historical construction of realism
4. The tyranny of false polarities
5. The ethic of responsibility.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS], History of ideas [JFCX], Social & political philosophy [HPS]