Realpolitik
Realpolitik is a system of politics or principles based on practical, rather than moral or ideological considerations. Realpolitik is the idea that the world is ruthless and you have to act realistically, even if it causes other things to happen that are bad, or decisions have to be made that upset your people.
Ludwig von Rochau was a 19th century writer and politician.[1] He describes it as follows:
The study of the powers that shape, maintain and alter the state is the basis of all political insight and leads to the understanding that the law of power governs the world of states just as the law of gravity governs the physical world.
A good example of a realpolitik politician is Henry Kissinger, who helped U.S. Presidents in the 1960s and 1970s to expand the power of the United States and its allies.
References change
- ↑ Haslam, Jonathan (2002). No Virtue Like Necessity: Realist Thought in International Relations since Machiavelli. London: Yale University Press. p. 168. ISBN 0-300-09150-8.