Politics Among Nations

Politics Among Nations is considered to be one of the first major works supporting classical realism. Categorized as a school of thought on international relations and diplomacy, classical realism is the belief that nations act mainly—or even entirely—out of self-interest and the need to maintain and expand power. It is a “a view of international politics that stresses its competitive and conflictual side” (“Political Realism in International Relations.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 9 Oct. 2023). The theory also holds that nations behave this way across time and different cultures because this behavior arises from human nature itself, which is viewed as fixed and innate.

The philosophical basis of classical realism can be found in the work of several past philosophers and writers going back to ancient Greece. Hans Morgenthau particularly stresses the work of the 17th-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes. In the work titled Leviathan, Hobbes argues that humans are naturally individualistic and are motivated by power and self-interest; this assertion is the basis for the classical realistic view of the behavior of nations. In Hobbes’s view, only a greater power, such as a strong sovereign and government, can restrain humans’ tendency to compete and fight with each other.