This book presents a posthumous collection of previously uncollected works of political theory written by Whittle Johnston. Johnston believed that both the liberal tradition of political thought and the realist tradition of international thought had contributed much to humanity’s store of political wisdom, but that each had limitations that could most easily be recognized by its encounter with the other. His method of accomplishing this task was to examine the liberal conception of political life in general and international political life in particular and then to explore the realist critique of the liberal view, particularly as it was expressed by three great twentieth-century realist thinkers, all of whom were, in their various ways, skeptical of liberal assumptions: Reinhold Niebuhr, Hans Morgenthau, and E. H. Carr. In doing so, Johnston reveals the power of the realist outlook, but also the areas in which it remains insufficient, and insufficient particularly where it underestimates the complexity and prudence that liberalism is capable of displaying. There have been studies of both liberalism and realism, but no other work has put them into conversation with each other in the way that this book does.
Author Biography:
Whittle Johnston lived from 1927 to 1996, serving on the faculty of the School of International Service at American University, USA, Swarthmore College, USA, Johns Hopkins University, USA, and the University of Virginia, USA. He published on a wide variety of subjects in journals such as the Journal of Politics, Orbis, and The National Interest, but his main concern was always the enduring problem of maintaining order with justice in a world environment often driven by concerns of power. His works on E.H. Carr, Woodrow Wilson, and American policy in the Cold War all carried this stamp.
David Clinton is Professor and Chair of Political Science at Baylor University, USA. He has held appointments at Tulane University, USA, Colgate University, USA, Kansas State University, USA, Hamilton College, USA, and Union College, USA, and has served as a visiting scholar at St. Andrews University, Scotland, and at the University of Wales at Aberystwyth. He is the author of Tocqueville, Lieber, and Bagehot: Liberalism Confronts the World and The Realist Tradition and Contemporary International Relations.
Stephen Sims is a Lecturer in Political Science at Baylor University, USA, who has written on the relationship of political philosophy and international relations theory. In addition to publishing several essays with the Classics of Strategy and Diplomacy project, he is working on a current book manuscript with the working title of "Justice, Prudence, and Foreign Relations in Aristotle's Political Thought."
