Politics Among Nations

One of the criticisms against Politics Among Nations is that it focuses too heavily on European politics and history. Conduct outside research to determine whether some of Morgenthau’s ideas can be applied to the history and politics of a region of the non-Western world, such as the Middle East or South Asia. Do the political and historical circumstances in your chosen region prove or disprove Morgenthau’s thesis?

How do the “Fourteen Points” fit with the idealist and classical realist theories of international relations? Do the Fourteen Points and their historical aftermath confirm or disprove Morgenthau’s pessimism about self-interest and human nature?

Compare Politics Among Nations to works by other scholars of international politics. Are Morgenthau’s views about moral motivations among nations realistic or pessimistic? How do other scholars address the matter of morality in international relations?

Compare Politics Among Nations to Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan. How is Hobbes’s view of civil society similar to Morgenthau’s understanding of international relations?

How has the ethics of warfare changed in the modern era, according to Morgenthau? How does the history of warfare and military ethics fit with his argument that nations are primarily motivated by self-interest and power?

Why does Morgenthau view the United Nations as an insufficient tool for averting the threat of nuclear war? How does Morgenthau’s views of the United Nations compare with those of other scholars of international relations?

How do Morgenthau’s views and arguments characterize the Cold War? What can be learned about the Cold War as a historical era from Politics Among Nations? Cite specific examples to support your overview.

Morgenthau concludes that the only way to reliably avert the danger of nuclear war is through the establishment of a world state. How might such a world state be realized? What might an international moral consensus look like, and how might it be achieved?