COURSE MATERIAL REVIEW

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MORCENTHAU

Source: Hans]. Morgenthau (4th edn, 1967) Politics Among Nations. New York, Alfred Knoff, pp. 4-14. Reprinted by permission of McGraw-Hill Book Company.

Morgenthau's six principles of realism have become the starting point for almost all undergraduate courses in international political theory. He argues that inter- national relations should be seen as a discrete area of political life where nor- mative1 moral and idealistic considerations cannot be used as a guide for action. In a world of competing sovereign states, where the currency is power, the duty. of each state is to take whatever action is necessary to protect its physical, political, economic and cultural identity.

This theoretical concern with human nature as it actually is, and with the historic processes as they actually take place, has earned for the theory presented here the name of realism. What are the tenets of political realism? No systematic exposition of the philosophy of political realism can be attempted here; it will suffice to single out six fundamental principles, which have frequently been misunderstood.

Six principles of political realism

Qrolitical realism believes that p~litics, like society in general'. is governe~ by objective laws that have their roots m human nature. In order to improve society

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MORGENTHAU - 193 it is first necessary to understand the laws by which society lives. The operation of these laws being impervious to our preferences, men will challenge them only at the risk of failure.

Realism, believing as it does in the objectivity of the laws of politics, must also believe in the possibility of developing a rational theory that reflects, however imperfectly and one-sidedly, these objective laws. It believes also, then, in the possibility of distinguishing in politics between truth and opinion - between what is true objectively and rationally, supported by evidence and illuminated by reason, and what is only a subjective judgment, divorced from the facts as they are and informed by prejudice and wishful thinking.

Human nature, in which the laws of politics have their roots, has not changed since the classical philosophies of China, India, and Greece endeavored to discover these laws. Hence, novelty is not necessarily a virtue in political theory, nor is old age a defect. The !act that a theory of poht1cs, if there be such a theory, has never been heara of before tends to create a presumption against, rather than in favor of, its soundness. Conversely, the fact that a theory of politics was developed hundreds or even thousands of years ago - as was the theory of the balance of power - does not create a presumption that it must be outmoded and obsolete. A theory of politics must be subjected to the dual test of reason and experience. To dismiss such a theory because it had its flowering in centuries past is to present not a rational argument but a modernistic prejudice that takes for granted the superiority of the present over the past. To dispose of the revival of such a theory as a 'fashion' or 'fad' is tantamount to assuming that in matters political we can have opinions but no truths.

For realism, theory consists in ascertaining facts and giving them meaning through reason. It assumes that the character of a foreign policy can be asccr· tained only through the examination of the political acts performed and of the foreseeable consequences of these acts. Thus we can find out what statesmen have actually done, and from the foreseeable consequences of their acts we can surmise what their objectives might have been.

Yet examination of the facts is not enough. To give meaning to the factual raw material of foreign policy, we must approach political reality with a kind of rational outline, a map that suggests to us the possible meanings of foreign policy. In other words, we put ourselves in the position of a statesman who musi meet a certain problem of foreign policy under certain circumstances, and we ask ourselves what the rational alternatives are from which a statesman may choo« who must meet this problem under these circumstances (presuming always tha• he acts in a rational manner), and which of these rational alternatives this par- ticular statesman, acting under these circumstances, is likely to choose. It is th, testing of this rational hypothesis against the actual facts and their consequence, that gives meaning to the facts of international politics and makes a theory o politics possible.

2. The main signpost that helps political realism to find its way through th, ,,.- landscape of international politics is the concept of interest defined in terms o ,-· power. This concept provides the link between reason trying to understan,

-194 A READER IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS ANO POLITICAL THEORY international politics and the facts to be understood. It sets politics as an auto- nomous sphere of action and understanding apart from other spheres, such as economics (understood in terms of interest defined as wealth), ethics, aesthetics, or religion. Without such a concept a theory of politics, international or domestic, would be altogether impossible, for without it we could not distin- guish between political and nonpolitical facts, nor could we bring at least a measure of systematic order to the political sphere.

We assume that statesmen think and act in terms of interest defined as power, and the evidence of history bears that assumption out. That assumption allows us to retrace and anticipate, as it were, the steps a stateman - past, present, or future - has taken or will take on the political scene. We look over his shoulder when he writes his dispatches; we listen in on his conversation with Ofher statesmen; we read and anticipate his very thoughts. Thinking in terms of interest defined as power, we think as he does, and as disinterested observers we understand his thoughts and actions perhaps better than he, the actor on the political scene, does himself.

The concept of interest defined as power imposes intellectual discipline upon the observer, infuses rational order into the subject matter of politics, and thus makes the theoretical understanding of politics possible. On the side of the actor, it provides for rational discipline in action and creates that astounding continuity in foreign policy which makes American, British, or Russian foreign policy appear as an intelligible, rational continuum, by and large consistent within itself, regardless of the different motives, preferences, and intellectual and moral qualities of successive statesmen. A realist theory of international politics, then, will guard against two popular fallacies: the concern with motives and the con- cern with ideological preferences.

To search for the clue to foreign policy exclusively in the motives of statesmen is both futile and deceptive. It is futile because motives are the most illusive of psychological data, distorted as they are, frequently beyond recognition, by the interests and emotions of actor and observer alike. Do we really know what our own motives are? And what do we know of the motives of others?

Yet even if we had access to the real motives of statesmen, that knowledge would help us little in understanding foreign policies, and might well lead us astray. It is true that the knowledge of the statesman's motives may give us one among many clues as to what the direction of his foreign policy might be. It can- not give us, however, the one clue by which to predict his foreign policies. History shows no exact and necessary correlation between the quality of motives and the quality of foreign policy. This is true in both moral and political terms.

We cannot conclude from the good intentions of a statesman that his foreign policies will be either morally praiseworthy or politically successful. Judging his motives, we can say that he will not intentionally pursue policies that are morally wrong, but we can say nothing about the probability of their success. If we want to know the moral and political qualities of his actions, we must know them, not his motives. How often have statesmen been motivated by the desire to improve the world, and ended by making it worse? And how often have they

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MORGENTHAU - 195 sought one goal, and ended by achieving something they neither expected no, desired?

Neville Chamberlain's politics of appeasement were, as far as we can judge inspired by good motives; he was probably less motivated by considerations o personal power than were many other Briti.sh prime ministers, and he sought tc preserve peace and to assure the happiness of all concerned. Yet his policie: helped to make the Second World War inevitable, and to bring untold miserie· to millions of men. Sir Winston Churchill's motives, on the other hand, hav, been much less universal in scope and much more narrowly directed toward per sonal and national power, yet the foreign policies that sprang from these inferiu motives were certainly superior in moral and political quality to those pursue, by his predecessor. Judged by his motives, Robespierre was one of the mos virtuous men who ever lived. Yet it was the utopian radicalism of that very virtu, that made him kill those less virtuous than himself, brought him to the scaffold and destroyed the revolution of which he was a leader.

Good motives give assurance against deliberately bad policies; they do no guarantee the moral goodness and political success of the policies they inspire What is important to know, if one wants to understand foreign policy, is no primarily the motives of a statesman, but his intellectual ability to comprehen, the essentials of foreign policy, as well as his political ability to translate wha he has comprehended into successful political action. It follows that while ethic in the abstract judges the moral qualities of motives, political theory must judg the political qualities of intellect, will, and action.

A realist theory of international politics will also avoid the other popula fallacy of equating the foreign policies of a statesman with his philosophic o political sympathies, and of deducing the former from the latter. Statesmer especially under contemporary conditions, may well make a habit of presentin their foreig? policies in terms of their philosophic and political sympathies i order to gain popular support for them. Yet they will distinguish with Lincol between their 'official duty,' which is to think and act in terms of the nation, interest, and their 'persmtal wish,1 which is to see their own moral values an political principles realized throughout the world. Political realism does n, require, nor does it condone, indifference to political ideals and moral prir ciples, but it requires indeed a sharp distinction between the desirable and tr possible - between what is desirable everywhere and at all times and what possible under the concrete circumstances of timr and place.

It stands to reason that not all foreign policies have always followed , rational, objective, and unemotional a course. The contingent elements of pe sonality, prejudice, and subjective preference, and of all the weaknesses , intellect and will which flesh is heir to, are bound to deflect foreign policies fro their rational course. Especially where foreign policy is conducted under the co, ditions of democratic control, the need to marshal popular emotions to the su1 port of foreign policy cannot fail to impair the rationality of foreign policy itsel Yet a theory of foreign policy which aims at rationality must for the time bein as it were, abstract from these irrational elements and seek to paint a picture,

196 - .· .. A READER IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND POLITICAL THEORY

foreign policy which presents the rational essence to be found in experience, without the contingent deviations from rationality which are also found in experience.

The difference between international politics as it actually is and a rational theory derived from it is like the difference between a photograph and a painted portrait. The photograph shows everything that can be seen by the naked eye; the painted portrait does not show everything that can be seen by the naked eye, but it shows, or at least seeks to show, one thing that the naked eye cannot see: the human essence of the person portrayed.

Political realism contains not only a theoretical but also a normative ele· ment. It knows that political reality is replete with contingencies and points to the typical inOuences they exert upon foreign policy, Yet it shares with all social theory the need, for the sake of theoretical understanding, to stress the rational elements of political reality; for it is these rational elements that make reality intelligible for theory. Political realism presents the theoretical construct of a rational foreign policy which experience can never completely achieve.

At the same time political realism considers a rational foreign policy to be good foreign policy; for only a rational foreign policy minimizes risks and max· imizes benefits and, hence, complies both with the moral precept of prudence and the political requirement of success. Political realism wants the photo· graphic picture of the p_olitical world to resemble as much as possible its painted portrait. Aware of the inevitable gap between good - that is, rational - foreign policy and foreign policy as it actually is, political realism maintains not only that theory must focus upon the rational elements of political reality, but also that foreign policy ought to be rational in view of its own moral and practical purposes.

Hence, it is no argument against the theory here presented that actual foreign policy does not or cannot live up to it. That argument misunderstands the inten· tion of this book, which is to present not an indiscriminate description of political reality, but a rational theory of international politics. Far from being invalidated by the fact that, for instance, a perfect balance of power policy will scarcely be found in reality, it assumes that reality, being deficient in this respect, must be understood and evaluated as an approximation to an ideal system of balance of power. Ct, Realism does not endow its key concept of interest defined as power with a meaning that is fixed once and for all, The idea of interest is indeed of the essence of politics and is unaffected by the circumstances of time and place. Thucydides' statement, born of the experiences of ancient Greece, that 'identity of interests is the surest of bonds whether between states or individuals' was taken up in the nineteenth century by Lord Salisbury's remark that 'the only bond of union that endures' among nations is 'the absence of all clashing interests.' lt was erected into a general principle of government by George Washington:

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MORGENTHAU - 197 A small knowledge of human nature will convince us, that, with far the greatest part of mankind, interest is the governing principle; and that almost every man is more or less, under its influence. Motives of public virtue may for a time, or in particular instances, actuate men to the obser~ vance of a conduct purely disinterested; but they are not of themselves suf- ficient to produce persevering conformity to the refined dictates and obligations of social duty. Few men are capable of making a continual sacrifice of all views of private interest, or advantage, to the common good. It is vain to exclaim against the depravity of human nature on this account; the fact is so, the experience of every age and nation has proved it and we must in a great measure, change the constitution of man, before we can make it otherwise. No institution, not built on the presumptive truth of these maxims can succeed. 1

lt was echoed and enlarged upon in our century by Max Weber's observation:

Interests (material and ideal), not ideas, dominate directly the actions of men. Yet the 'images of the world' created by these ideas have very often served as switches determining the tracks on which the dynamism of interests kept actions moving. 2

:'. j ~ @the kind of interest determining political action in a particular period of : "' history depends upon the political and cultural context within which foreign :"5 policy is formulated. The goals that might be pursued by nations in their foreign · policy can run the whole gamut of objectives any nation has ever pursued or

might possibly pursue. The same observations apply to the concept of power. Its content and the

manner of its use are determined by the political and cultural environment. Power may comprise anything that establishes and maintains the control of man over man. Thus power covers all social relationships which serve that end, from physical violence to the most subtle psychological ties by which one mind con- trols another. Power covers the domination of man by man, both when it is disciplined by moral ends and controlled by constitutional safeguards, as in Western democracies, and when it is that untamed and barbaric force which finds its laws in nothing but its own strength and its sole justification in its aggrandizement.

Political realism does not assume that the contemporary conditions under which foreign policy operates, with their extreme instability and the ever present threat of large-scale violence, cannot be changed. The balance of power, for instance, is indeed a perennial element of all pluralistic societies, as the authors of The Federalist papers well knew; yet it is capable of operating, as it does in

1. Tht Writi11gs of Ctorgt Washingto11, edited by John C. Fitzpatrick (Washington: United St.11e.~ Printing Office, 1931-4-4), Vol. X, p. 363.

2. Marianne Weber, Max \Tither (Tucbingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1926) pp. 347-8.

198 ~ READER IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND POLITICAL THEORY - e United States, under the conditions of relative stability and peaceful conflict. the factors that have given rise to these conditions can be duplicated on the ternational scene, similar conditions of stability and peace will then prevail

there, as they have over long stretches of history among certain nations. What is true of the general character of international relations is also true of

the nation state as the ultimate point of reference of contemporary foreign policy. While the realist indeed believes that interest is the perennial standard by which political action must be judged and directed, the contemporary connec· tion between interest and the national state is a product of history, and is therefore bound to disappear in the course of history. Nothing in the realist posi- tion militates against the assumption that the present division of the political world into nation states will be replaced by larger units of a quite different character, more in keeping with the technical potentialities and the' moral requirements of the contemporary world.

The realist parts company with other schools of thought before the all· important question of how the contemporary world is to be transformed.The realist is persuaded that this transformation can be achieved only through the workmanlike manipulation of the perennial forces that have shaped the past as they will the future. The realist cannot be persuaded that we can bring about that transformation by confronting a political reality that has its own laws with an abstract ideal that refuses to take those laws into account. (9 Political realism is aware of the moral significance of political action. It is

also aware of the ineluctable tension between the moral command and the requirements of successful political action. And it is unwilling to gloss over and obliterate that tension and thus to obfuscate both the moral and the political issue by making it appear as though the stark facts of politics were morally more satisfying than they actually are, and the moral law less exacting than it actually is.

_ Realism maintains that universal moral principles cannot be applied to the actions of states in their abstract universal formulation, but that they must be filtered through the concrete circumstances of rime and place. The individual may say for himself: 'Fiat justitia, pereat mundus (Let justice be done, even if the world perish),' but the state has no right to say so in the name of those who are in its care. Both individual and state mu~t 'udge political action by universal

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moral principles, such as that of liberty. et hile the individual has a moral _. right to sacrifice himself in defense of sue a moral principle, the state has no

right to let its moral disapprobation of the infringement of liberty get in the way of successful political action, itself inspired by the moral principle of national survival. There can be no political morality without prudence; that is, without consideration of the political consequences of seemingly moral action. Realism, then, considers prudence - the weighing of the consequences of alternative political actions - to be the supreme virtue in politics. Ethics in the abstract judges action by its conformity with the moral law; political ethics judges action by its political consequences. Classical and medieval philosophy knew this, and so <lid Lincoln when he said:

MORGENTHAU - 19' I do the very best I know how, the very best I can, and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.

(l)rolitical realism refuses to identify the moral aspirations of a particula, nation with the moral laws that govern the un~. As it distinguishes betwee, truth and opinion, so it distinguishes between rut and ido~try. All nations ar, tempted - and few have been able to resist the temptation for long - to cloth, their own particular aspirations and actions in the moral purposes of th, universe. To know that nations are subject to the moral law is one thing, whil, to pretend to know with certainty what is good and evil in the relations amoni nations is quite another. There is a world of difference between the belief tha, all nations stand under the judgment of God, inscrutable to the human mind and the blasphemous conviction that God is always on one's side and that wha, one wills oneself cannot foil to be willed by God also.

The lighthearted equation between a particular nationalism and the counsel, of Providence is morally indefensible, for it is that very sin of pride against whid the Greek tragedians and the Biblical prophets have warned rulers and ruled That equation is also politically pernicious, for it is liable to engender the distor tion in judgment which, in the blindness of crusading frenzy, destroys nation• and civilizations - in the name of moral principle, ideal, or God himself.

On the other hand, it is exactly the concept of interest defined in terms ol power that saves us from both that moral excess and that political folly. For ii we look at all nations, our own included, as political entities pursuing thei, respective interests defined in terms of power, we are able to do ·us ice to all 01 them. And we are able to do justice to all of them in a dua sense: W~are abi< to judge other nations as we judge our own and, having judged them in thi,

V (ashton, we are then capable of pursuing policies that respect the interests ol other nations, while protecting and promoting those of our own. Moderatior in olicy cannot fail to reflect the moderation of moral judgment.

The difference, then, between political realism and other schools ol ght is real, and it is profound. However much the theory of political realisrr

may have been misunderstood and misinterpreted, there is no gainsaying it, distinctive intellectual and moral attitude to matters political.

,-• Intellectually, the political realist maintains the autonomy of the politica - sphere, as the economist, the lawyer, the moralist maintain theirs. He thinks ii

terms of interest defined as power, as the economist thinks in terms of interes defined as wealth; the lawyer, of the conformity of action with legal rules; th, moralist, of the conformity of action with moral principles. The economist asks 'How does this policy affect the wealth of society, or a segment of it?' The lawye, asks: 'Is this policy in accord with the rules of law?' The moralist asks: 'Is thi· policy in accord with moral principles?' And the political realist asks: 'How doe• this policy affect the power of the nation?' (Or of the federal government, o Congress, of the party, of agriculture, as the case may be.)

• 200 A READER IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND POLITICAL THEORY The political realist is not unaware of the existence and relevance of standards

of thought other than political ones. As political realist, he cannot but subor- dinate these other standards to those of politics. And he partS company with other schools when they impose standards of thought appropriate to other spheres upon the political sphere. It is here that political realism takes issue with the 'legalisric-moralistic approach' to international politics. That this issue is not, as has been contended, a mere figment of the imagination, but goes to the very core of the controversy, can be shown from many historical examples. Three will suffice to make the point.3

In 1939 the Soviet Union attacked Finland. This action confronted France and Great Britain with two issues, one legal, the other political. Did that action violate the Covenant of the League of Nations and, if it did, what countermeasures should France and Great Britain take? The legal question could easily be answered in the affirmative, for obviously the Soviet Union had done what was prohibited by the Covenant. The answer to the political question depended, first, upon the manner in which the Russian action affected the interests of France and Great Britain; second, upon the existing distribution of power between France and Great Britain, on the one hand, and the Soviet Union and other potentially hostile nations, especially Germany, on the other; and, third, upon the influence that the countermeasures were likely to have upon the interests of France and Great Britain and the future distribution of power, France and Great Britain, as the leading members of the League of Nations, saw to it that the Soviet Union was expelled from the League, and they were prevented from joining Finland in the war against the Soviet Union only by Sweden's refusal to allow their troops to pass through Swedish territory on their way to Finland. If this refusal by Sweden had not saved them, France and Great Britain would shortly have found themselves at war with the Soviet Union and Germany at the same time.

The policy of France and Great Britain was a classic example of legalism in that they allowed the answer to the legal question, legitimate within its sphere, to determine their political actions. Instead of asking both questions, that of law and that of power, they asked only the question of law; and the answer they received could have no bearing on the issue that their very existence might have depended upon.

The second example illustrates the 'moralistic approach' to international politics. It concerns the international status of the Communist government of China. The rise of that government confronted the Western world with two issues, one moral, the other political. Were the nature and policies of that government in accord with the moral principles of the Western world? Should the Western world deal with such a government? The answer to the first question

3. See the other examples discussed in Hans J. Morgenthau, 'Another "Great Debate": The Nation:1.1 Interest of the United Staicsi' The American Pofitical Science Review, XLVI (December 1952), pp. 979 ff. See also Hans J. Morgenthau, Politics ill the 20th Ctmury, Vol. I, T}u Dtclint of Democractic l'olitics (Chicago: University of Chic:.go Press, 1962), pp. 79 ff.

• MORGENTHAU - 201 could not foil to be in the negative. Yet it did not follow with necessity that the answer to the second question should also be in the negative. The standard of thought applied to the first - the moral - question was simply to test the nature and the policies of the Communist government of China by the principles of Western morality. On the other hand, the second - the political - question had to be subjected to the complicated test of the interests involved and the power available on either side, and of the bearing of one or the other course of action upon these interests and power. The application of this test could well have led to the conclusion that it would be wiser not to deal with the Communist govern- ment of China, To arrive at this conclusion by neglecting this test altogether and answering the political question in terms of the moral issue was indeed a classic example of the 'moralistic approach' to international politics.

The third case illustrates strikingly the contrast between realism and the legalistic-moralistic approach to foreign policy, Great Britain, as one of the guarantors of the neutrality of Belgium, went to war with Germany in August 1914 because Germany had violated the neutrality of Belgium. The British action could be justified either in realistic or legalistic-moralistic terms. That is to say, one could argue realistically that for centuries it had been axiomatic for British foreign policy to prevent the control of the Low Countries by a hostile power. It was then not so much the violation of Belgium's neutraliry per se as the hostile intentions of the violator which provided the rationale for British intervention. If the violator had been another nation but Germany, Great Britain might well have refrained from intervening. This is the position taken by Sir Edward Grey, British Foreign Secretary during that period. Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs Hardinge remarked to him in 1908: 'If France violated Belgian neutrality in a war against Germany, it is doubtful whether England or Russia would move a finger to maintain Belgian neutrality, while if the neutrality of Belgium was violated by Germany, it is probable that the converse would be the case.' Whereupon Sir Edward Grey replied: 'This is to the point.' Yet one could also take the legalistic and moralistic position that the violation of Belgium's neutrality per se, because of its legal and moral defects and regardless of the interests at stake and of the identity of the violator, justified British and, for that matter, American intervention. This was the position which Theodore Roosevelt took in his letter to Sir Edward Grey of January 22, 1915:

To me the crux of the situation has been Belgium. If England or France had acted toward Belgium as Germany has acted I should have opposed them, exactly as I now oppose Germany. I have emphatically approved your action as a model for what should be done by those who believe that treaties should be observed in good faith and that there is such a thing as inter- national morality. I take this position as an American who is no more an Englishman than he is a German, who endeavors loyally to serve the interests of his own country, but who also endeavors to do what he can for justice and decency as regards mankind ,11 large, and who therefore feels obliged to judge all other nations by their conduct on any given occasion.

-202 A READER IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND POLITICAL THEORY This realist defense of the autonomy of the political sphere against its subver-

sion by other modes of thought does not imply disregard for the existence and importance of these other modes of thought. It rather implies that each should l be assigned its proper sphere and function. Political realism is based upon a : pluralistic conception of human nature. Real man is a composite of 'economic man,' 'political man,' 'moral man,' 'religious man,' etc. A man who was nothing 1 but 'political man' would be a beast, for he would be completely lacking in moral restraints. /I man who was nothing but 'moral man' would be a fool, for he would be completely lacking in prudence. A man who was nothing but 'religious man' would be a saint, for he would be completely lacking in worldly desires.

Recognizing that these different facets of human nature exist, political realism also recognizes that in order to understand one of them one has to deal with it on its own terms. That is to say, if I want to understand 'religious man,' I must forthe time being abstract from the other aspects of human nature and deal with its religious aspect as if it were the only one. Furthermore, I must apply to the religious sphere the standards of thought appropriate to it, always remaining aware of the existence of other standards and their actual influence upon the religious qualities of man. What is true of this facet of human nature is true of all the others. No modern economist, for instance, would conceive of his science and its relations to other sciences of man in any other way. It is exactly through such a process of emancipation from other standards of thought, and the develop- ment of one appropriate to its subject matter, that economics has developed as an autonomous theory of the economic activities of man. To contribute to a similar development in the field of politics is indeed the purpose of political realism.

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HERZ

Source: John H. Herz (1957) 'The rise and demise of the territorial state'. World Politics, 9: 4, 473-93.

Herz questions the 'old thinking' of scholars like Morgenthau and Carr that the state can be understood as a 'hard shell' protecting the political, cultural and economic values of its population from undesirable foreign intrusion. He argues that advances in technical and scientific knowledge bring the possibility of economic, ideological and military penetration of the state. Specifically, in the age of nuclear weapons our very survival may depend upon nations defining their interests in terms wider than those of self-interest. This, according to Herz, requires that we engage in 'new thinking' in an effort to redefine the language of international politics.

Stud:nts and practitioners of international politics are at present in a strange predicament. Complex though their problems have been in the past, there was then at least some certainty about the 'givens,' the bask structure and the basic phenomena of international relations. Today one is neither here nor there. On the one hand, for instance, one is assured - or at least tempted to accept assurance - that for all practical purposes a nuclear stalemate rules out major war as a major means of policy today and in the foreseeable future. On the other hand, one has an uncanny sense of the practicability of the unabated arms race, nnJ ~ doubt whether relinnce can be placed solely on the deterrent purpose of all tlus preparation. We are no longer sure about the functions of war anJ peace,