Jack Murphy

Mr. Shirk

International Relations

23 September 2013

The Question of Motives and Morality

            When discussing international relations and foreign policy, political realism is a good starting point. In Hans Morgenthau’s, Six Principles of Political Realism, he stresses the importance of having rational beliefs, being truly objective, being unemotional and unsympathetic. Morgenthau states, “To search for the clue to foreign policy exclusively in the motives of statesmen is both futile and deceptive” (pg.8), meaning that motives for political action are irrelevant. To this point, I partially disagree because I believe understanding a statesman’s motives should play a role when making political decisions.

            For example, in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons against his own people. This in itself would be enough information for Realists to take political action against the Assad regime. However, I believe that the motive of the Syrian army is significant because it answers questions of morality of the act. In this case, the Syrian army used sarin gas that left hundreds of innocent people, including children, dead, to try to remove the rebels from the capital in Damascus, making this act immoral. When a motive is established, it supports a case against the violators of human rights. It ostensibly reduces the egregious governments denial of any wrongdoing. It is similar to establishing a motive in the judicial system.

            Morgenthau also stated that, “Both individual and the state must judge political action by the universal moral principles, such as liberty” (pg.12). This seems to be conflicting with the idea that the motive of a statesmen is not important, since you would need to look deeper into the motive to understand if an action is moral or not, and whether or not liberty, for example, has been violated, as in the case of Syria. Morgenthau also states that, “There can ne no political morality without prudence; that is, without consideration of the political consequences of seemingly moral action” (pg.11), also seeming to conflict the idea of motives not being important.

            Realism primarily looks at the competitive side of international relations. I believe we must look beyond ourselves, and our borders and look to help those that are powerless, those that our victims. Knowing the motives of certain statesmen will help create a more solid, well-rounded foreign policy. We cannot just look at the bottom line, as Morgenthau argues, we need to see the full scope of the governments in question. Uncovering the motives of statesmen brings up question of morality that may change the course of action of our government. While motive should not be used exclusively, it certainly warrants significant consideration.

Work Cited

Morgenthau, Hans J. "Six Principles of Political Realism." Power and Principle in Statecraft. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978. 7-14. Print.