Why the father of political realism believed nations must always seek maximum power
In short: Hans Morgenthau, a titan of 20th-century international relations, argued that states are trapped in a perpetual struggle for dominance. Because national power is notoriously difficult to calculate and prone to miscalculation, he concluded that seeking anything less than maximum influence is a dangerous gamble that no rational government can afford.
Born in Germany in 1904, Hans Morgenthau became a foundational figure in political realism after emigrating to the United States in 1937. His seminal 1948 work, Politics Among Nations, established the concept of 'interest defined in terms of power' as the primary signpost for understanding international politics. Morgenthau argued that politics is governed by objective laws rooted in human nature, which is characterized by a universal, inherent lust for power. Consequently, he believed that the balance of power is an essential, albeit fragile, stabilizing factor in a world of sovereign nations.
Morgenthau’s realism was not a cold, amoral calculation. He maintained that while statesmen must prioritize the national interest, they must also navigate the tension between moral commands and the requirements of political success. His intellectual trajectory was complex; he was a consultant to the U.S. government during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations but was dismissed in 1965 for his vocal opposition to the Vietnam War. He famously debated McGeorge Bundy on television, arguing that the conflict in Vietnam lacked the global significance required to justify American intervention.
In his later years, Morgenthau’s focus shifted toward the existential threat of nuclear weapons. He recognized that the atomic age represented a radical, qualitative transformation in human history, moving away from his earlier emphasis on historical continuity. By the time of his death in 1980, he had become a leading voice in just war theory. His legacy remains debated, with recent scholarship highlighting that his realism was deeply infused with moral considerations and that his intellectual interests spanned from the politics of oil and the support of Israel to the philosophical study of narcissism and Aristotle.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Hans Morgenthau
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