"Politics Among Nations" is a very comprehensive article written by Morgenthau. Hans Joachim Morgenthau (February 17, 1904 – July 19, 1980) was one of the leading twentieth-century figures in the study of international politics. He made landmark contributions to international relations theory and the study of international law, and his Politics Among Nations, first published in 1948, went through five editions during his lifetime.
In this essay, the writer systematically talks about International Politics, he sees the world through the lenses of realism. Key assumptions of realism are that the world is composed of opposing interests which cause conflict and one cannot simply escape these conflicts. Morgenthau oppose the idealism which assume the essential goodness and infinite malleability of human nature and the ability of politics to live up to moral standards. Focus of the writer is' power' rather than morality or material interests of humans or states. According to Morgenthau, conflicts that occur in the world are not due to misunderstanding or any thing else but they occur because states want power.
I personally believe that one cannot generalize all humans and states as a power seeking actor, it really requires strong assumptions. so the real question is who actually need power? According to me, it’s the people and states who currently have power need it most, because they are the one who took benefit from it most and they cant imagine their status without this power. For example, if we look at United States, The US government is the world’s largest governmental arms dealer, supplying annually around $10 billion of small and large arms (33.3% of total governmental arms sales) to countries around the world (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute 2012). So if common states stop spending their money on arms it will effect US economic power, so as a result, US want that common states consider realist approach and keep continue to buy these arms from US so that it could remain economically powerful.
Therefore, in conclusion I believe that although Morgenthau gives good arguments in favor of realism, but he doesn't define the term or concept of power and does not distinguish between resources that give states power.
Morgenthau defines power in terms of interests. He also argues that human nature is selfish. Whether we believe Morgenthau or not is, of course, completely up for debate. I like that you attempted to grapple with these complex issues in your piece.
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