n>The case for realism in US foreign policy is often associated today with arguments for offshore detachment and non-intervention—along with a certain impatience regarding ethical or religious considerations. The great classical realists of the 1940s possessed views on international relations much richer and more varied than this. The political thought of Christian theologian Reinhold Niebuhr is an excellent example of that richness. Described by the realist George Kennan as “the father of us all,” Niebuhr could hardly ignore moral considerations in foreign policy. Nor was he against unmasking moralistic or delusional pretensions on international matters. Far from it. Yet Niebuhr’s consistent recognition of the limits of American power and self-awareness did not lead him to advocate either appeasement or disengagement. Rather, beginning in 1940, he made the case for a sober, realistic, and morally grounded US involvement overseas, out of the central admission that whatever America’s own faults, a punctilious detachment from world affairs might very well result in the triumph of greater imbalances and injustices. This was Niebuhr’s Christian realism. Read Full Article »