Indeed, Bew argues that it continues serving a fundamental purpose today. In so doing, it provides evidence that debates over the various bastardizations of realpolitik have played a critical role in the development of modern international relations (IR) scholarship. Realpolitik: A History traces this debasement, offering an in-depth examination of realpolitik's ever-shifting meaning. As John Bew's perusal of the term's mid-nineteenth-century German origins demonstrates, the meaning of realpolitik has been radically debased during the century-and-a-half since its coinage. Yet, realpolitik has not always held this connotation. Synonymous with “realism,” “Machiavellianism,” and “pragmatism,” the term has become shorthand for hawkish foreign policy preferences. In today's lexicon, “realpolitik” denotes a policy posture or ideology that prioritizes expressions of power over idealistic action.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |