How an idea that began as an argument about the
possibilities of German unification crossed the Atlantic and became enlisted in
the cold war?
Its originator was August Ludwig von Rochau, a radical
who was jailed for his politics as a student, worked in exile as a travel
writer, then returned home to Germany to become a political journalist and,
eventually, a politician. In 1853 he published Grundsätze der Realpolitik
(roughly translated as “Foundations of Realpolitik”), whose arguments applied
particularly to the ramshackle confederation of German states.
اضافة اعلان
Rochau published a second version of Realpolitik in
1869, now calling for a strong German national-liberal state able to defend
itself against Bonapartist tyranny and to extricate itself from its
Austro-Hungarian neighbor. It took a powerful Prussia under Otto von Bismarck
make that happen — and, when it did, the German chancellor quickly became
regarded as a political visionary. For admirers and critics alike, his name
became synonymous with Realpolitik. And as Bew suggests, the subsequent story
of Realpolitik is really one of how a historically contingent German idea
became divorced from its origins, morphing into a polemical term signaling
hardheaded realism (as opposed to “moralism”) about politics.
By the time of World War I, it was power politics (or
Machtpolitik) of the kind associated with nationalists such as the historian
Heinrich von Treitschke (1834-96) that had come to dominate Allied thinking.
British writers were moved to construct their own traditions of
anti-Realpolitik to show just how far Germany had moved away from the norms of
European politics — though the term would undergo something of a rehabilitation
in the 1920s and 1930s, when lower-case (and hence un-Germanic) realpolitik was
invoked in defense of empire against the perceived moralism of the League of
Nations.
In the US, the concept was late to catch on, first
used when the syndicated columnist Walter Lippmann called for an injection of
Realpolitik into the foreign policy shield of the American republic during World
War II. But the background ideas had been developing for some time. Indeed, US
policy intellectuals were soon more comfortable than their European counterparts
with using a modified language of Realpolitik as a response to totalitarianism,
precisely because it seemed to align with the rise of US world power.
Since its coinage in mid-19th century Germany,
Realpolitik has proven both elusive and protean. To some, it represents the
best approach to meaningful change and political stability in a world buffeted
by uncertainty and rapid transformation. To others, it encapsulates an attitude
of cynicism and cold calculation, a transparent and self-justifying policy
exercised by dominant nations over weaker. Remolded across generations and
repurposed to its political and ideological moment, Realpolitik remains a
touchstone for discussion about statecraft and diplomacy. It is a freighted
concept.
Historian John Bew explores the genesis of
Realpolitik, tracing its longstanding and enduring relevance in political and
foreign policy debates. Bew's book uncovers the context that gave birth to
Realpolitik-that of the fervor of radical change in 1848 in Europe. He explains
its application in the conduct of foreign policy from the days of Bismarck
onward. Lastly, he illuminates its translation from German into English, one
that reveals the uniquely Anglo-American version of realpolitik-small
"r"-being practiced today, a modern iteration that attempts to
reconcile idealism with the pursuit of national interests.
Lively, encyclopedic, and utterly original,
Realpolitik: A History illuminates the life and times of a term that has shaped
and will continue to shape international relations.
Read more Books
.jpg)
.jpg)
