Chasing Morgenthau, or: What Is Political Realism?

Abstract

Hans J. Morgenthau's Theory of International Relations: Disenchantment and Re-Enchantment. By Neacsu Mihaela. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. 288 pp., $95.00 hardcover (ISBN 978-0-230-57607-0). Morgenthau, Law and Realism. By Jutersonke Oliver. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. 212 pp., $95.00 hardcover (ISBN 978-0-521-76928-0). Political realism has seen better—and worse—days. Recent debates over the NATO-led Libya intervention has shown once again realism's ill-standing in foreign-policy circles (recall Iraq). Marginalized by an unholy alliance between neocons and hawkish liberals, realism remains reclusive. But then, realism is thriving—intellectually. Its social-scientific strand has produced significant structural International Relations (IR) theories, including attempts to synthesize the identified parabolic power/security relationship into a single neorealist framework (Fiammenghi 2011). Likewise, surging interest in pre-Waltzian realism has debunked many realpolitik myths associated with this venerable political philosophy. So-called “classical” realism's renaissance is remarkable, particularly as to its most consequential proponent, Hans Morgenthau (for example, Lebow 2003; Williams 2005, 2007; Molloy 2006; Scheuerman 2009, 2010; Schuett 2010, 2011). In this thriving body of scholarship, there are—naturally—instances of elements missing, misunderstood, neglected. Enter Mihaela Neacsu and Oliver Jutersonke. Their careful re-readings, partly archive-based, make a significant contribution to our understanding of Morgenthau's intellectual biography and his realism's intellectual impetus. Some self-identified realists will not recognize “their” Morgenthau or realism. This does not diminish these interpretations’ value. It strengthens the debate as to what realism is. In Hans J. Morgenthau's Theory of International Relations: Disenchantment and Re-Enchantment , Mihaela Neacsu makes her case along six chapters. She starts off by exploring the concepts of modernity/postmodernity, thereby methodologically setting up her reading of Morgenthau's realism. Transgressing the modernity/postmodernity dichotomy, Neacsu argues, makes Morgenthau a valuable source of inspiration for IR's postmodern strands. In light of recent, mostly critically inspired Morgenthau interpretations, one might fear Neacsu risks shooting at a straw man. But this would undervalue her creative attempt of presenting Morgenthau as a complex, coherent thinker preoccupied with an overarching theme: the quest for meaning, for morality, individually and collectively. As much as Neacsu's reading oscillates around …