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Showing posts from September, 2022

MORGENTHAU AND WALTZ ON IR

  Politics, like society in general, is governed by objective laws  that have their roots in human nature. The main signpost that helps political realism is the  concept of interest defined in terms of power. Hans Morgenthau, Politics among Nations (1985: 4, 5) The factors that distinguish international politics  are:  (1) t hat the stakes of the game are considered to be of unusual  importance and (2) that in international politics the use of f orce is not excluded as a means of influencing the outcome. The cardinal rule of the game is often taken to be: Do what  you must in order to win it. Kenneth Waltz, Man, The State and War (1959: 205)