Ethics, liberalism and realism in international relations

• Main Author: Gismondi, Mark D. (Author)
• Format: Unknown
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon, Oxon Routledge 2007
• Series: Routledge advances in international relations and global politics 61
• Subjects: Realism > Moral and ethical aspects; Liberalism; International relations > Moral and ethical aspects
• Online Access: Click Here to View Status and Holdings.
• Physical Description: 278 pages : 24 cm
• ISBN: 0415772370 (alk. paper); 9780415772372 (alk. paper)

This book explores the complex issue of international ethics in the two dominant schools of thought in international relations; Liberalism and Realism. Both theories suffer from an inability to integrate the ethical and pragmatic dimensions of foreign policy. Liberal policy makers often suffer from moral blindness and a tendency toward coercion in the international arena, whilst realists tend to be epistemic sceptics, directly or indirectly, into their theories. Mark Gismondi seeks to resolve the issues in these two approaches by adopting a covenant based approach, as described by Daniel Elazar’s work on the covenant tradition in politics, to international relations theory.