Realpolitik

Machiavelli and the Rough Realities of Power Politics

O'Brien Browne | Posted 04.06.2012

Read More: Success, Careers, Elections, Realpolitik, Business, Power, Politics, Machiavelli, The Prince, Machiavellian Politics, Books News
O'Brien Browne

Although we may cringe from his descriptions and prescriptions, somehow we realize that this is how politics is conducted, whether by managers jousting for power and position in the corporate world or politicians seeking office.

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Intellectual Diplomacy: Deflating a Buzz Word

John Brown | Posted 04.14.2012

Read More: Intellect, Public Diplomacy, Culture, Intellectual Diplomacy, Panda Diplomacy, Helium Diplomacy, Diplomacy, Humanism, The Classics, Bloggers, Trahison Des Clercs, Realpolitik, Absurdity, Frivolity, Montaigne, Politics News
John Brown

"Strategic intellectual competitiveness?" What does that jaw-breaker have to do with the pleasures of the mind -- or, indeed, with our new supposedly collaborative, interconnected new world of the 21st century?

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Occupy Wall Street as Seen Through Machiavelli's Lens

Nicholas Carroll | Posted 12.26.2011

Read More: Realpolitik, Machiavelli, We Are the 99 Percent, Occupy Wall Street, Business News
Nicholas Carroll

I do not know how political sage Niccolo Machiavelli, author of The Prince, would have estimated the OWS prospects of success. However I am certain of the warning he would be giving the ruling class, the one-percenters: they are pushing the people too far.

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We Don't Need an "Obama Doctrine"

Hoyt Hilsman | Posted 06.04.2011

Read More: Russia, Egypt, Globalizaion, 9/11, United States, Obama, Kissinger, Diplomacy, Soviet Union, Cold War, China, Bahrain, America, Foreign Policy, Bush, Military, Bush Doctrine, Conservatives, Middle East, Libya, Realpolitik, Nixon, Syria, World News
Hoyt Hilsman

If the Obama presidency stands for anything, it is that an ideological or doctrinaire approach to difficult problems, whether internationally or domestically, will not work.

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Richard Holbrooke: A Self-Described "Idealistic Realist, or Realistic Idealist"

Andrew Rosen | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Richard Holbrooke Dies, Realpolitik, Henry Kissinger, Dayton Accords, Richard Holbrooke, John Adams, Clark Clifford, Dean Rusk, Richard Holbrooke Dead, Yale University, Averell Harriman, Robert McNamara, Wilsonianism, Politics News
Andrew Rosen

Historically, lead diplomats have adhered to one school of thought -- I wanted to understand why Richard Holbrooke was different.

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Encouraging Leaders to Do the Right Thing

Nicholas van Praag | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Human Rights, Mo Ibrahim, Leaders, Ibrahim Foundation, Conflict, Rewards, Realpolitik, Development, Good Governance, Conflict and Development, Corruption, World News
Nicholas van Praag

Mechanisms to recognize or reward good leadership are few and far between. Yet leaders are human and, unless they are beyond redemption, they are more likely to respond to recognition and rewards than sanctions and reprimands.

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America's Politically Adolescent Behavior

Carol Smaldino | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Adolescent Behavior, Tea Party, Noise Machine, White and Right, Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, Rage, Tim Wise, Fringe Politics, Black Americans, Don't Tea on Me Blog, The Shadow, Hatred, Political Right, Israel, Realpolitik, Politics News
Carol Smaldino

In my clinical practice, I have actually seen and tried some of the ways that might represent a pathway to transition our society from a culture of hate to one of listening.

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Multi-Thinking About Iran: Let's be Realist

Leon T. Hadar | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Colin Powell, Hungary 1956, Al Kamen, Stephen Walt, George W. Bush, Foreign Policy Magazine, Hamas, Barbara Slavin, China, Barack Obama, Machiavelli, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran, Realpolitik, Flynt Leverett, George H.W. Bush, Richard Nixon, Cfr, Ukraine, Jimmy Carter, Neoconservatives, Orange Revolution, Richard Haass, World News
Leon T. Hadar

As a "card-carrying realist," I find Haass's recommendation to "promote" -- he does not actually call for "doing" -- regime change in Tehran as running contrary to any sensible realist viewpoint.

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CIA Pays Off Another Afghan Despot, Hopes for the Best

Allison Kilkenny | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Hamid Karzai, Afghan Warlords, Realpolitik, Afghanistan, Human Rights, Cia, Human Rights Watch, Warlords, Ahmed Wali Karzai, World News
Allison Kilkenny

It appears as though the CIA is -- yet again -- employing the good ol' "The Enemy of My Enemy is The Guy Who Screws Me In The End" foreign policy doctrine.

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The Shape of Things to Come: War before Peace in the Mideast

Leon T. Hadar | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Iraq War, Egypt, Palestinian Territories, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Bush Administration, Middle East, Larry David, Reality-Based Community, President Barack Obama, Realpolitik, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Moshe Dayan, Israel, Anwar Sadat, World News
Leon T. Hadar

The current status-quo in the Middle East must be disturbed before conditions are right for the next round of Middle East diplomacy.

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Moment of Truth In Afghanistan, Iran, Israel-Palestine, Southeast Asia, Africa, FSU

Stephen C. Rose | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Negotiation, Holocaust, Afghanistan, Afghan War, War, Sri Lanka, Violence, Iran, Eisenhower, South East Asia, Peace, Pbama, President, Religion, Mcchrystal, Military Industrial Complex, Burma, Africa, Former Soviet Union, Israel, Sustainable Communities, Realpolitik, Global Emergency, Nietzsche, World News
Stephen C. Rose

In all these situations, violence is active or incipient. In all of them, there is no solution being proposed that promises an end to the prospect of more of the same.

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What can Africa Hope for During Clinton Visit?

Todd Moss | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Hillary Clinton Africa, Hillary Clinton Secretary of State, Realpolitik, Hillary Clinton, Liberia, Nigeria, South Africa, African Growth and Opportunity Act, Angola, World News
Todd Moss

Clinton, in choosing the largest economies and the continent's most influential capitals, is likely to highlight more traditional US economic and security interests than Obama did on his Ghana trip.

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Overcoming Pottery Barn Foreign Policy

Bob Burnett | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: George Bush, Bush Doctrine, Barack Obama, Obama Foreign Policy, Bush, Realpolitik, Obama, Bush Foreign Policy, Politics News
Bob Burnett

Bush viewed America as a fortress where barbarians were hammering at our gates; as the leader in a global crusade. But Obama sees the US as one of many powerful players in a complex world.

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Rumors Of The Next Cold War

Judah Freed | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Europe, Pakistan, Czechoslovakia, Balance of World Power, Hitler, Czarist Empire, Germany, Washington Post, Natural Gas, Saakashvili, Turkey, Communist Revolution, Czarist Russia, Russia Georgia War, Medvedev, Machiavelli, Tajikistan, Fall of the Soviet Empire, India, Trans-Caucasus Pipeline, The Washington Post, Russian Empire, Free Markets, Nazi Germany, Caspian Sea, World History, Oil Pipeline, Market Reforms, Napoleon, Azeri Chirag Gunashli Oil Fields, Putin, Iran, Kgb, Nato, 1917, Financial TImes, Balance of Power, Ukraine, Missile Defense Shield, Russia, Collapse of the Soviet Empire, Caucasus Mountains, World Power, Kazakhstan, Mikhail Saakashvili, Yeltsin, Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, Afghanistan, Mediterranean Sea, South Ossetia, Kremlin, Uzbekistan, Mt. Elbrus, Black Sea, France, Czar, Moscow, Georgia, Oil, Soviet Empire, New York Times, Realpolitik, Alexander Yeltsin, China. 1917 Communist Revolution, Cease-Fire, Baku, Shevardnadze, Turkmenistan, Ceyhan, Kygyzstan, Azerbaijan, Sudetenland, Tbilisi, Machiavellian, Balkan, Home News
Judah Freed

No matter how subtly the conquest happens, Russian control of Georgia would amount to an historic shift in the balance of power -- especially as long as the world economy is fueled by oil.

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By Any Means Necessary

Jonathan Leigh Solomon | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Supreme Court, White House, Al Gore, 3 a.M., Swiftboating, Chicago, November, John Corzine, Contributors, Bush, Willie Horton, 2008, Richard Nixon, Reverend Wright, Pat Buchanan, Joseph Welch, Florida, John McCain, Karl Rove, Joe Mccarthy, Michael Bloomberg, Texas, 2000, Presidency, Machiavelli, Boss Tweed, Decency, Lee Atwater, Ross Perot, Campaign Funds, Skullduggery, Moralist, Realpolitik, $270 Million, Lyndon Johnson, Steve Forbes, Bring US Together," Howard Beale, Barack Obama, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, "Landslide Lyndon, Hypocrite, Politics News
Jonathan Leigh Solomon

Barack Obama has gone back on his word, Barack Obama is a hypocrite ... I couldn't be happier. Truth is, if what's necessary to win in November is some outright cheating, I'd be all for that, too.

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