POLITICAL REALISM

Mikayla Reed, Lucas Santos, & Emma GuinanePeriod 6Gifted

Meaning

◦War is sometimes necessary for self defense

◦Against pacifism

◦Belief that nations never sacrifice themselves

◦They also believe that it is good to keep peace with other nations, but defend their own nation’s interests before

Philosophy of Political Realism“A theory of political philosophy that attempts to explain, model, and prescribe political relations.”

◦Has history going back to Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War

◦The history was extended by Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, Spinoza, & Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Carl Von Clausewitz:

A German general & military theorist who stressed the psychological and political aspects of

war and also influenced the

twentieth & twenty-first centuries

Niccolo Machiavelli:

An Italian diplomat who

wrote a handbook about the use of

ruthless, self-serving cunning

which established him as the “Father of Modern Political

Theory”

Henry Kissinger:

The secretary of state who had an appreciation for world order after

his family fled Germany during

the 1930s

Sun Tzu:A Chinese military general, strategist, & philosopher in

Ancient China

Key Figures

Citations◦Bassford, Christopher, ed. "The Clausewitz Homepage." Clausewitz. Christopher

Bassford, n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. <http://www.clausewitz.com>.

◦Pak, Eudie, Leanne French, and Laura Helm, eds. "Machiavelli/ Henry A. Kissinger." Bio. A&E Television Network, n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. <http://www.biography.com/>.

◦Parker, Geoffrey, and Robert Cowley, eds. "Sun Tzu." History.com. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing, 1996. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. <http://www.history.com/topics/sun-tzu>.

◦Moseley, Alexander. "Political Realism." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2014. <http://www.iep.utm.edu/polreal/>.