Ethics, Liberalism and Realism in International Relations (Routledge Advances in International Relations and Global Politics)

Gismondi, Mark D.

ISBN 10: 0415772370 / ISBN 13: 9780415772372

Published by Routledge, 2007

About this Item

Seller Inventory # I-9780415772372

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Ethics, Liberalism and Realism in International Relations (Routledge Advances in International Relations and Global Politics)
• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0415772370
• ISBN 13: 9780415772372
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

This book explores the complex issue of international ethics in the two dominant schools of thought in international relations; Liberalism and Realism.

Both theories suffer from an inability to integrate the ethical and pragmatic dimensions of foreign policy. Liberal policy makers often suffer from moral blindness and a tendency toward coercion in the international arena, whilst realists tend to be epistemic sceptics, incorporating Nietzsche’s thought, directly or indirectly, into their theories. Mark Gismondi seeks to resolve the issues in these two approaches by adopting a covenant based approach, as described by Daniel Elazar’s work on the covenant tradition in politics, to international relations theory.

The covenant approach has three essential principles:

• policy makers must have a sense of realism about the existence of evil and its political consequences
• power must be shared and limited
• liberty requires a basis in shared values.

Ethics, Realism and Liberalism in International Relations will be of interest to students and researchers of politics, philosophy, ethics and international relations.

About the Author

Mark D. Gismondi is Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Northwest Nazarene University, Nampa, Idaho, USA.