Inadequacies Of Dogmatic Realism

Most Americans find the concept of an amoral political philosophy highly repugnant. Yet, while Henry Kissinger may be correct that Wilson set the cadence of American foreign policy, the direction of march has been largely set by Realists. United States foreign policy has been framed in the language of Wilsoman Idealism for the past 8O years, but its practitioners have been driven almost exclusively by considerations of Realpo1itik2 This dichotomy between America's innate political Idealism and its operational pragmatism has plagued U S foreign policy since it emerged as a world power at the turn of the century and has often resulted in inconsistent and self-defeating policies3 The tension is greatest where the normative assumptions of political Idealism4 conflict most directly with the relativistic materialist considerations of Realpolitik Today that strain is exacerbated by interdependencies that blur the distinction between domestic and foreign policy5 The fundamental split between these two approaches had led to substantial disagreement over how or whether to integrate our idealistic impulses into the framework of our national interests.