Graff Blog 1

For the first blog, I have decided to look at Tickner’s Hans Morgenthau’s Principles of Political Realism: A Feminist Reformulation. This piece grapples with Morgenthau’s realist theories and seeks to develop them further, specifically using feminism to find flaws in the system. As Tickner states at the beginning of the piece, men have long dominated positions of power, “diplomacy, military service, and the science of international politics” (429). Thus, Tickner criticizes Morgenthau’s principles on the basis that they are “assumptions about human nature that are partial and that privilege masculinity” (431). Tickner’s piece outlines why Morgenthau’s principles better fit the behavior of men, as he wanted to “develop a rational (and unemotional) theory of international politics based on objective laws that have their roots in human nature” (431). Tickner then mentions Keller, who “argues that objectivity, as it is usually defined in our culture, is associated with masculinity” (432). The realist framework could support this, as we know that through the creation of self and others to escape anarchy. Additionally, we know that “those who behave morally in international politics are doomed to failure because of the immoral actions of others” (432). This apparent lack of morality and emotion in international politics is very interesting given the major players and decision makers in the field of international relations. I think this is very interesting to think about from the perspective of our modern politics. For example, climate change is obviously a worldwide issue, and we can assume that most people would prefer a healthy planet to a dying one. However, such a solution is far different from the moral act of picking up a piece of trash. The wide scale nature of the issue brings with it problems of coordination on the international level. Due to the gravity of the situation, changes must be made efficiently, but it is unclear to what extent this will be done. Will some take advantage of slowing, transforming economies and continue to use harmful energy sources? Another aspect of our modern culture which makes this interesting is the extent of politicization in our lives. With the way that our societies, technologies, and governments developed, politics is deeply ingrained into everything we do. Rather than using politics as an effective means for collective action and cooperative decision making, it has disappointingly become a finger pointing, name calling, and fact manipulation scheme. The reason that this is important is because of the differences in principles between Morgenthau and Tickner. While Morgenthau’s principles revolve around the undeniability of power relations and human nature, Tickner’s allow for more free flowing applications. Morgenthau’s principles definitely do a good job of applying themselves to our American political culture, as things seem to be heavily motive driven and power based. Tickner’s principles, however, offer some ways that these issues could be solved. For example, I support her idea of common moral elements rather than universal moralities. I think the intersections of interest groups and personal affiliations are important here, as people all over the world are connected but cannot possibly be narrowed down through universal truths. Instead, I think about how Tickner’s idea of dynamic objectivity might play into this, with patterns of interests being strong but everflowing, creating political systems in which there is no autonomy, no universally valid power, and completely contingent.