Politics Recovered

Realist Thought in Theory and Practice

Matt Sleat

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9780231547550
• Topic: Política y relaciones internacionales
• Subtopic: Historia y teoría política

Is political theory political enough? Or does a tendency toward abstraction, idealization, moralism, and utopianism leave contemporary political theory out of touch with real politics as it actually takes place, and hence unable to speak meaningfully to or about our world? Realist political thought, which has enjoyed a significant revival of interest in recent years, seeks to avoid such pitfalls by remaining attentive to the distinctiveness of politics and the ways its realities ought to shape how we think and act in the political realm.

Politics Recovered brings together prominent scholars to develop what it might mean to theorize politics "realistically." Intervening in philosophical debates such as the relationship between politics and morality and the role that facts and emotions should play in the theorization of political values, the volume addresses how a realist approach aids our understanding of pressing issues such as global justice, inequality, poverty, political corruption, the value of democracy, governmental secrecy, and demands for transparency. Contributors open up fruitful dialogues with a variety of other realist approaches, such as feminist theory, democratic theory, and international relations. By exploring the nature and prospects of realist thought, Politics Recovered shows how political theory can affirm reality in order to provide meaningful and compelling answers to the fundamental questions of political life.

Index

Page numbers refer to the print edition but are hyperlinked to the appropriate location in the e-book.

Page numbers followed by n refer to notes, with note number.

Abu Ghraib prison, prisoner abuse in: and Arab humiliation, 101, 105; and leaks of classified information, 234

Achen, Christopher, 160

action, guidance for: and descriptive objectives, as not mutually exclusive, 3; necessity of accurate descriptions of real political behavior for, 1–2, 3, 7, 14, 350; as question for political process and not political philosophy, 18–19; as unrelated to main mission of realism, 18, 49, 345, 354. See also normative theory

action, logical and nonlogical, Pareto on, 178–80

activism, political, anger as driver of, 97

Adler, Renata, 235

advocacy commitments, vs. ontological issues, 301

Affordable Care Act, causes of anger at, 98

African cultures: corruption in, avenues for addressing, 212–13; solidarity networks in, 208–9

Aftergood v. CIA (2005), 224

aggressive state behavior, classical realists on, 258

agonistic realism, 352

analytical realism: basic tenets of, 299; Beitz on, 297; compatibility with constructivist realism, 299–300, 313–14; compatibility with cosmopolitanism, 313–14; compatibility with neoutilitarianism, 299–300; compatibility with variety of normative orientations, 301; on global distributive justice, 299, 308; lack of grounds for rejection of global wealth distribution in, 301; as normatively indeterminate, 300–302, 313; on securitization of poverty, 310, 314

anarchism, philosophical, critique of, 62–63, 71n33

Anarchy, State, and Utopia (Nozick), 50

anger: causes of, 98–99; as driver of political mobilization, 97; vs. hatred, 97–99; humiliation as cause of, 99, 101–2; inward-directed, 99

antipathy: as driver of political mobilization, 97; importance to political morality, 96; types of, 97–99

anti-Semitism, as hatred rather than anger, 97

Arab Spring, humiliation as origin of, 99

Aradau, Claudia, 311

Aristotle: and justification of ethical life, 80; on passions, 110; Rhetoric, 69n23

al-Assad, Hafiz, and forced enactments of legitimacy, 124–25

Augustine: on lust for power, 96; and philosophical heritage of political realism, 243

authority, vs. legitimacy, 35–36, 38

autonomy of politics: and balance of politics between moralism and Realpolitik, 271; as basic principle of political realism, 6, 73, 245, 270; classical realism and, 246–48; feminism on, 321; Geuss on, 287–88, 352–53, 354; as implausible, 17; international realism and, 6, 245; Morgenthau on, 247–48, 271–72, 274, 347; nonideal theory and, 351; political realists on, 291n15; potential meanings of, 246–47; and realism’s engagement with morality, 322; Schmitt on, 272, 273–74; structural realism and, 245–46; Williams on, 158, 280–83. See also morality prior to politics

Bartels, Larry, 160

basic legitimation demand (BLD), 36–37; critiques of, 36–40, 42–43, 44, 283, 284, 355–56; effect of other polities on nature of successful answers to, 87; equal treatment of citizens as not required by, 122–23, 282–83; existence of despite lack of actual demander, 118; and false assumption that people in past societies were reconciled to domination, 125–26; as fundamental conceptual claim about politics, 5; groups not subject to, 37; as inevi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Politics Recovered—on the Revival of Realism in Contemporary Political Theory
• I. The Truth in Political Realism
• II. Realism and Surrealism in Political Philosophy
• III. Realism in Ethics and Politics: Bernard Williams, Political Theory, and the Critique of Morality
• IV. Anger, Humiliation, and Political Theory: Bringing the Darker Passions Back In
• V. Legitimacy and Domination
• VI. Disenchantment Versus Reconstruction: Walter Lippmann, John Dewey, and Varieties of Democratic Realism
• VII. The Paradox of the Democratic Prince: Machiavelli and the Neo-Machiavellians on Ideal Theory, Realism, and Democratic Leadership
• VIII. Politics and the “Pure of Heart”: Realism and Corruption
• IX. Democracy’s Limit: A Realist Response to the Quest for Transparency
• X. The Case for Kinship: Classical Realism and Political Realism
• XI. Getting Past Schmitt? Realism and the Autonomy of Politics
• XII. Security and Poverty: On Realism and Global Justice
• XIII. Feminism and Realism
• XIV. Political Realism: A Reality Check
• List of Contributors
• Index