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Escape From Machiavellianism? Thomist Themes in Twentieth Century Political Realism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2011

Daniel Edward Young
Daniel Edward Young*
Affiliation:
Northwestern College
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Daniel Edward Young, Northwestern College, 101 Seventh Street S.W., Orange City, IA 51041. E-mail: young@nwciowa.edu
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Abstract

Political realism is often seen as vulnerable to the “Machiavellian temptation,” that is, to the bracketing out of moral principles in the conduct of statecraft. In this article, I explore the use of Thomist themes in the writings of Martin Wight (1913–1972), a seminal figure of the so-called English School of international relations theory. Scholars have commented on the Christian realist roots of the English School, but it is little noted that Wight's most famous essay, “Western Values in International Relations,” uses the language of Thomism. By exploring the use of Thomist concepts in Wight's thought and the parallels to be found in the thought of his contemporary, Thomist political philosopher Jacques Maritain, I show how he seeks to escape the realist temptation to Machiavellianism. I then go on to sketch out the possible shortcomings of this approach.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , December 2011 , pp. 526 - 549
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2011

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