Morgenthau's Realism and Containment of USA

Morgenthau's Realism and Containment of USA

Hans Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations, used to be a textbook that was
required reading in political science - international relations courses. In
this book Morgenthau presented his theory (doctrine) of  "Realism" (as
opposed to idealism) in foreign policy. During Cold War times this was an
ideological underpinning of U.S. foreign policy. The book contains two major
ideas - namely, (1) foreign policy must not pursue idealistic notions of
Wilsonian democracy, but realism, instead. (This was derived from the German
notion of "Realpolitik" (aka pragmatic power politics) of the 19th century.)
(2) The second important notion in Morgenthau's book is the distinction
between powers (states, governments, nations) that support the status quo of
the world system (rule of international law, national sovereignty,
non-aggression) and what Morgenthau calls "revolutionary" states like
Napoleonic France, Hitlerist Germany, Stalinist USSR). According to
Morgenthuau's teachings, so-called "revolutionary powers" must be contained
by the world community. "Revolutionary powers" are defined as powers that
seek to revolutionize the world order and to overthrow the status quo of the
world system. (No similarity with a socialist notion of revolution.)

Looking at the present world situation, we observe that Napoleonic France,
Hitlerist Germany, and Stalinist USSR do not exist any longer. China does
not seek to overthrow the status quo of the world system. There is one power
that seeks to overthrow the status quo of the world system with a new
doctrine of preemptive strikes against any sovereign or non-sovereign force
in the world that is not to its liking. This doctrine is being implemented
by the United States. It follows that USA is a revolutionary power in the
sense of Morgenthau's Politics Among Nations. According to Morgenthau, any
revolutionary power on the world stage must be contained by the (rest of)
the world community.

Gernot Köhler