Does Morality Matter in Security Policy?

摘要

Politicians like to talk about morality, but the complaint of the realist is that such talk is just moonshine. John Mearsheimer famously remarked that 'the pronouncements of the policy elites are heavily flavoured with optimism and moralism. Behind closed doors, however, the elites who make national policy speak mostly the language of power. So is it moonshine, or do moral considerations at least sometimes shape security policy?