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Harts J. Morgenthau and the legacy of political realism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2009

Peter Gellman
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Extract

It is over fifty years since a young scholar named Hans J. Morgenthau sought refuge in the United States, and forty years since the publication of his influential text, Politics Among Nations. Morgenthau's ‘theory’ of political realism figures prominently in the academic study of international relations during these years and shows no sign of disappearing. Many of those scholars who differ markedly from Morgenthau regard it as worthwhile or.at least necessary to respond to his arguments. If perhaps for no other reason than that it is an appealing target, Morgenthau's political realism remains an important subject of evaluation for even its most serious and most severe critics.

Type
Research Article
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , October 1988 , pp. 247 - 266
Copyright
Copyright © British International Studies Association 1988

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References

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43. Morgenthau made this statement as part of congressional testimony. See Hearings before the Subcommittee on Europe of the House of Representatives, Ninety-Third Congress, Second Session, June 10, 1974, p. 147. Valery Panov, the lead dancer for the Kirov Ballet, sought permission to emigrate to Israel, and was dismissed. His wife, also a dancer, lost her job as well. Two years later, Panov was given a visa conditional on leaving his pregnant wife behind. After considerable international criticism, the Soviet government relented, and allowed both to leave.

44. Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations, op. cit., p. 237; see also pp. 236 44.

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48. Morgenthau, letter of 22 April 1959, Morgenthau Papers (Alderman Library, University of Virginia).

49. Cited in Morgenthau, Scientific Man Versus Power Politics, op. cit., p. 202.

50. See Morgenthau, ‘Danger of Detente’, op. cit., p. 7.

51. Politics in the Twentieth Century, op. cit., vol. three, p. 11.

52. Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations, op. cit., p. 226.

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