Hans morganthau a key thinker IR

Morgenthau made landmark contributions to international relations theory and the study of international law.�

1. International Relations
Hans Morgenthau-A key thinker
ZILL-E-HUMAMUSTAFA MALIK
–PHD STUDENT GLOBAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT
SHANGHAI UNIVERSITY

2. HANS JOACHIM MORGENTHAU
BORN:FEB17, 1904 ·COBURG,GERMANY
DIED:JUL19, 1980 ·NEWYORK,UNITEDSTATES
All nations are tempted —and
few have been able to resist the
power for long —to clothe their
own aspirations and action in the
moral purposes of the universe.
Politics Among Nations
(1948)

3. Background
Morgenthaumadelandmarkcontributionstointernationalrelationstheoryandthestudyofinter
nationallaw.
Education
In the 1920s, he
studied at the Universities of
Frankfurt and Munich,
specializing in
law and diplomacy.
Inspiration
Max Weber became both his
personal as well as an
intellectual role model.
Academia
In the early 1930s, Morgenthau
taught public law at the
University of Geneva.
he taught for short periods at
Brooklyn College (1937–39) and
at the University of Kansas City
(1939–43),
his academic career was spent
mostly at the University of
Chicago (1943–71) and, after his
retirement, at the City College
of
New York (1968–75) and the
New School for Social Research
in
New York (1975–80).
Work for Government
he worked for short periods
for the government (as a
consultant to the policy
planning staff in the State
Department in the late 1940s,
and again in the early 1960s
as an adviser to the
Pentagon)

4. Academic
Specialization
Morgenthau'sworksbelongtothetraditionofrealismin Inte
rnationalRelationstheory,heisusuallyconsidered,alongwith
GeorgeF.KennanandReinholdNiebuhr,oneofthethreeleadi
ngAmericanrealistsofthepost-worldwarIIperiod.
•Hispoliticsamongnations,firstpublishedin1948,wentth
roughfiveeditionsduringhislifetime.
Realist view:
•All politics is a struggle for power because what he
calls ‘political man’ is an innately selfish creature
with an insatiable urge to dominate others.

5. Commonly known as the classical realist approach
to international politics.
Politics is governed by distinct immutable laws of
nature and that states could deduce rational and
objectively correct actions from an understanding
of these laws.
Central to Morgenthau's theory was the
concept ofpower as the dominant goal in
international politics and the definition of
national interest in terms of power.
His state-centered approach, which refused to
identify themoralaspirations of a state with
the objective moral laws that govern the
universe, maintained that all state actions seek
to keep, demonstrate, or increase power. He
called for recognition of the nature and limits of
power and for the use of traditional methods
ofdiplomacy, including compromise.

6. Politics among Nations
Political realism refuses to identify the moral aspirations of a particular nation with the moral laws that govern the
universe.
Realism maintains that universal moral principles cannot be applied to the actions of states in their abstract
universal formulation, but that they must be filtered through the concrete circumstances of time and place.
Political realism is aware of the moral significance of political action. It is also aware of the ineluctable tension
between the moral command and the requirements of successful political action.
The struggle for power is universal in time and space and is an undeniable fact of experience.
Even though anthropologists have shown that certain primitive peoples seem to be free from the desire for power,
nobody has yet shown how their state of mind can be re-created on a worldwide scale so as to eliminate the struggle
for power from the international scene. … International politics, like all politics, is a struggle for power. Whatever
the ultimate aims of international politics, power is always the immediate aim.

7. Scientific Man vs. Power
Politics(1946)
ThebookisMorgenthau'sfirstw
orkandcontainshismostsystema
ticexpositionofarealistphilosoph
yandacritiqueofapositionheter
ms'liberalrationalism'.
In Defense of the National
Interest(1951)
Thebookisacritiqueofwha
tMorgenthaucalls'deeplyin
grainedhabitsofthoughtan
dpreconceptionsastothen
atureofforeignpolicyinthe
UnitedStates'.
Science:ServantorMaste
r?(1972)
PartofthePerspectivesin
Humanismseriesonethi
csandhowtheyrelateto
technologicalprogress.T
hisparticularvolumedea
lswiththephilosophyofs
cholarshipandscientific
ethicsintheAtomicAge.

8. The Purpose of American
Politics(1960)
publishedin1960,attheendofthe
Eisenhoweradministrationandonth
eeveofthecivilrightsmovementan
dmilitaryinterventioninVietnam.It
isMorgenthau’sfirstattempttoaut
horabookprimarilyabouttheUnite
dStates,exploringopposingAmeric
anpoliticaltraditionsandtheirimpl
icationsforforeignpolicy.
Truth and Power(1970)
ANewForeignPolicyfort
heUnitedStates(1969)

9. Thanks to all of you 
Zill-E-Huma Mustafa Malik
PhD student Global Studies department
Shanghai University