Session 7: Unveiling "Another Great Debate"

Morgenthau in his article “Another Great Debate” divorces morality from power politics. He proclaims that if the states ruled in accordance with “humanitarian and pacific traditions”, then freedom, dignity and peace were assured for all nations. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Wars existed, exist and will continue to exist. This is vividly illustrated by the foreign policy of United States of America. Despite of it claiming that they are patrons of peace around the globe, we have seen how America have expanded in the past and continues to mingle in the internal affairs of other nation states. Recently, America invaded the Pakistani city of Abbottabad in an attempt to kill Osama Bin Laden, an alleged terrorist by the US, without the consent of the Pakistani Government. In fact, the Pakistani government was completely unaware of this development; at least, this is what the officials claimed.  American history shows in abundance that their policies are guided by national interest.

However, what is national interest? National interest is any policy that benefits the citizens of the state despite of it have negative repercussions for other states. In a world where states compete with one another for power, national interests and thus foreign policies change. New government brings with itself novel and fresh ideas that they perceive would be beneficial for the state. For example, France and Germany had hostile relations after World War 1 but with the threat from Soviet Union during the cold war, Germany and France reverted to cooperation to secure their national boundaries and thus signed the Elysee Treaty in 1963 to promote harmony and friendship by integrating military and economic policies.