Document Type
Article
Department
Politics and Economics (CGU)
Publication Date
2011
Disciplines
Political Science | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
Abstract
Enough comment and critical debate has been generated by the essay Why We Should Support Democratic Revolution in the Islamic World to warrant further elaboration on the themes it contains and why support of the despotic status quo in the Islamic World is not only morally unacceptable but, more importantly for many of the Small Wars Journal readership, no longer rational from the perspective of realpolitik and purely selfish U.S. interests at home and abroad. The latter concern shall be addressed first since those who are presently students of insurgency and foreign policy tend to focus on realism— how things really are— over idealism—how things can or should be. The elements of national power and morality should be complimentary to one another in U.S. foreign policy but for many reasons, including our increasing loss of political and economic dominance, the balance has overwhelmingly shifted to the primacy of retaining power, ultimately coercive military capability, coupled with that of promoting corporate profit and the American standard of living.
Rights Information
© 2011 Small Wars Foundation
Terms of Use & License Information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Bunker, Robert J. "Realism, Idealism, and U.S. Foreign Policy in the Islamic World: Why Democratic Realpolitik is Essential.” Small Wars Journal. 5 February 2011. smallwarsjournal.com: 1-4.
Included in
Political Science Commons, Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons
Comments
"Realism, Idealism, and U.S. Foreign Policy in the Islamic World: Why Democratic Realpolitik is Essential" by Robert Bunker is reprinted from Small Wars Journal per the Creative Commons license granted upon its original publication.