Abstract
This article reviews three classic texts of the French, American-Realist and English schools in International Relations, namely Tout Empire Périra (Duroselle 1992Duroselle, Jean-Baptiste. 1992. Tout Empire Périra: Théorie des Relations Internationales. Malakoff: Armand Colin.), Politics Among Nations (Morgenthau 1948Morgenthau, Hans. 1948. Politics among nations: the struggle for power and peace. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.), and Power Politics (Wight 1978Wight, Martin. 1978. Power Politics. London: Leicester University Press.). I argue that Wight’s approach can be regarded as a middle course between those of Duroselle and Morgenthau, and that Wight adopted this position in order to associate himself with important assumptions by both Duroselle and Morgenthau. In particular, there are similarities between Wight’s concept of ‘international revolution’ and Duroselle’s notion of the ‘unbearable.’ Both are critical of behavioural methods, and both search for recurrences in international relations. As regards Morgenthau, Wight shares with him a Realist view of international anarchy, a classical understanding of ‘national interest,’ and an understanding of ideologies as the legitimation of government actions.
Keywords
Historiography of International Relations; Martin Wight; Jean-Baptiste Duroselle; Hans Morgenthau; Middle Course