An American Social Science: International Relations

Abstract

Political science has a much longer history than international relations. International relations did not, even though the kind of social action described by Thucydides never disappeared from a fragmented world, and flourished particularly in the period of the European balance of power. Raymond Aron has characterized international relations as the specialized activity of diplomats and soldiers. International relations are the science of the tests and trials of several intertwined actors. The model of interstate relations which Hans Morgenthau proposed, and the precepts of "realism" which he presented as the only valid recipes for foreign policy success as well as for international moderation, were derived from the views of nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century historians of statecraft. Almost inevitably, a concern for America's conduct in the world blended with a study of international relations, for the whole world seemed to be the stake of the American-Soviet confrontation.

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