Abstract
Niebuhr’s position on the role of morality on state action is the third element of his political realism. This topic builds on those of Chapters 2 and 3, as their themes of the scope for choice in politics and the necessity for coercion influence the role that morality can play in state action and the role it should play. Important here are such issues as the degree to which moral norms ought to play a part in political decision-making, and whether these norms are the same as those of personal morality. This chapter examines three distinguishing characteristics of Niebuhr’s political realist approach to morality and state action which differentiate it from traditional just war theories: its dualism, its non-legalism and consequentialism, and its tragic view of life.
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