Power Beyond Realpolitik
In geopolitics, moral culture shapes whether influence is experienced as leadership or domination, cooperation or coercion.
Scott Atran
· 8 min read
Realism
A collection of 8 posts
The Multipolarity Mirage
What realists like Emma Ashford deride as America’s “reactionary defence of the status quo” is in fact a prudent effort to preserve a world order of unparalleled value.
Brian Stewart
· 27 min read
Empathy for the Devil: The Fantasy of ‘Progressive Realism’
Realists may believe international relations is all about mindless forces balancing and smashing into each other, but it’s actually about ideology, institutions, history, and the personalities of human beings.
Matt Johnson
· 20 min read
Kissinger’s Folly
In its cold materialist outlook, Realism fails to recognize that every nation has a unique set of interests shaped by its own history, geography, and beliefs.
Brian Stewart
· 16 min read
Unrealistic Realism on Ukraine
Moral relativism, and its equally dubious corollary of moral equivalence, too often mars contemporary Realists’ conceptions of political realities.
Borys M. Kowalsky
· 13 min read
Mearsheimer: Rigor or Reaction?
What John J. Mearsheimer gets wrong about Ukraine, international affairs, and much else besides.
Matt Johnson
· 21 min read
Sam Harris and Jordan Peterson: Heroes for Moral Realism?
I see very little promise in grounding a moral realism (insofar as such a thing is ultimately a viable project) in terms of evolutionary fitness, and much more promise is taking Harris’ tack.
John Klasios
· 11 min read
One Way Ayn Rand Aficionados Are Unrealistic
Just as it is unfair to compare idealised socialism to a realistic but flawed capitalism, so too is it unfair for Brook to compare his idealised capitalist vision to realistic socialism.
Michael Ezra
· 3 min read