Communitarian political realism: The case of Martin Wight.

摘要

The dissertation studies the thought of Martin Wight, an important figure in the development of political realism. It asks what makes Wight's realism different from other realists. Hans Morgenthau is used as a foil for Wight.; Wight and Morgenthau were both steeped in the Western tradition of political thought, and both were skeptics, emphasizing the uncertainties of history and criticizing those "political religions" that thought they could concretely manifest the meaning of history within history. Both were theoreticians of the "politics of skepticism."; Given this common skeptical approach to politics, in what way do Wight and Morgenthau diverge? Their analysis of international society on the fundamental issues is generally the same. But in reading the two authors one senses different emphases. The dissertation examines the evolution of Wight's thought, highlights two divergences with Morgenthau, and explores possible reconciliations.; The first divergence is that Wight is more hesitant to focus on a single factor as the key to studying international politics. While Morgenthau consistently sees interest defined as power as the organizing concept, Wight prefers to examine the complex interactions of several concepts, in particular those of international anarchy, diplomacy and commerce, and the concept of a society of states.; The second divergence is that Wight takes a more communitarian approach toward theorizing international politics, while Morgenthau focuses more on the individual. Wight consistently explores the idea of an international society, made up of domestic societies, rather than a more atomistic conception of self-contained states competing with one another and struggling for power.; Underlying the discussion of these two points are the first order theoretical and metatheoretical uses of the terms power and politics. Wight uses the term politics in a broader fashion while using power in a narrow fashion. Morgenthau reverses this, having a narrow definition of politics but a broader notion of power. Thus at first they seem to talk past one another; in reality they approach the phenomena of politics from differing perspectives.