Realist or Liberal?
The true realist, according to Dostoevsky in The Brothers Karamazov:
...if he is not a believer, will invariably find within himself the strength and the ability not to believe in miracles either, and if a miracle stands before him as an incontrovertible fact, he will sooner disbelieve his sense than admit that fact...
In this early stage of my MSc, at the core of the study is the difference between realism and liberalism. Basically, realists believe that mankind is inherently selfish and that there will always be war and conflict, while liberals believe that mankind can progress through co-operation and mutual trust, if only it tries.
Each of these of course dissolves into a multitude of subdivisions: classical realists; neo-classical realists; neo-realists etc. etc.. So where do I fall?
At first I believed that I was firmly in the realist camp. Perhaps when I was 18 I was a liberal idealist, but age and experience have made me firmly cynical. On the other hand, there are branches of liberalism that make a lot of sense, for example the newer liberals who remark that interdependence and democracy are lessening the potential for conflict.
The simple answer is that as yet I don't know. But what I do know is that to impose a theoretical straightjacket on the study of International Relations is not going to help us as the human race to move forward.
We need instead to assess with a mixture of cold pragmatism and ambition the situation that is current at the present time. And only once the ideological shackles are thrown off can we then aim to improve upon it - as much as we (realistically) can.
Comments
As a realist I'd like to comment on your suggestion that we need to 'assess with a mixture of cold pragmatism....'
Herein lies the problem, humankind (to be politically correct) is an emotional species. To ask someone to remove emotion and think pragmatically is to ask someone to remove humanity from the process. Humanity is liberal.
However, I believe gov't needs to govern with a cold pragmatic hand.
When Bill Clinton said, 'I feel your pain' he was speaking as an emotional human - a liberal. When the Bush administation listens in on phone conversations it is acting pragmatically.
Which is better?
I want a liberal girlfriend but a pragmatic boss and president.
Posted by: dave | February 23, 2006 5:04 PM