The Tragic Vision of Politics: Ethics, Interests and Orders

by Richard Ned Lebow

• ISBN13: 9780521534857
• ISBN10: 0521534852
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-11-10
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Is it possible to preserve national security through ethical policies? Richard Ned Lebow seeks to show that ethics are actually essential to the national interest. Recapturing the wisdom of classical realism through a close reading of the texts of Thucydides, Clausewitz and Hans Morgenthau, Lebow argues that, unlike many modern realists, classic realists saw close links between domestic and international politics, and between interests and ethics. Lebow uses this analysis to offer a powerful critique of post-Cold War American foreign policy. He also develops an ontological foundation for ethics and makes the case for an alternate ontology for social science based on Greek tragedy's understanding of life and politics. This is a topical and accessible book, written by a leading scholar in the field.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xv
1. Nixon in hell	1	(13)
2. Tragedy and politics	14	(51)
3. Thucydides and war	65	(50)
4. Thucydides and civilization	115	(53)
5. Carl von Clausewitz	168	(48)
6. Hans J. Morgenthau	216	(41)
7. The wisdom of classical realism	257	(53)
8. Running red lights and ruling the world	310	(50)
9. Tragedy and scholarship	360	(33)
Name index	393	(6)
Subject index	399