17 Facts About Realpolitik

Realpolitik refers to enacting or engaging in diplomatic or political policies based primarily on considerations of given circumstances and factors, rather than strictly binding itself to explicit ideological notions or moral and ethical premises.

Term Realpolitik was coined by Ludwig von Rochau, a German writer and politician in the 19th century.

Historian John Bew suggests that much of what stands for modern Realpolitik today deviates from the original meaning of the term.

Realpolitik emerged in mid-19th century Europe from the collision of the Enlightenment with state formation and power politics.

Realpolitik said that the great achievement of the Enlightenment had been to show that might is not necessarily right.

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Whereas Realpolitik refers to political practice, the concept of political realism in international relations refers to a theoretical framework aimed at offering explanations for events in the international relations domain.

Conversely, Realpolitik can be described as the exercise of policies that are in line with accepted theories of political realism.

Realpolitik policies were employed in response to the failed revolutions of 1848 as means to strengthen states and tighten social order.

Realpolitik manipulated political issues such as the Schleswig-Holstein Question and the Hohenzollern candidature to antagonize other countries and cause wars if necessary to attain his goals.

Realpolitik believed that the only way Singapore could survive as a relatively small nation as compared to its neighbours was to contrast itself from them, by building up a highly effective and non-corrupt government, in addition to a civil service, under a meritocratic system.

Realpolitik believed that Singapore was to stay neutral but possess a strong military capability, believing that it serves as a guarantor of the country's independence due to its strategic position.

Carr was convinced that the Bolsheviks were destined to win the Russian Civil War and, under the grounds of Realpolitik, approved of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George's opposition to War Secretary Winston Churchill's support for military help to the anti-Bolshevik White movement.

American Realpolitik began in the 1960s with the influence of Polish-American Zbigniew Brzezinski, later National Security Adviser to Jimmy Carter.

Kissinger himself said that he had never used the term Realpolitik and stated that it is used by both liberal and realist foreign policy thinkers to label, criticize and facilitate a choosing of sides.

The reach and influence of Realpolitik is found instead in pragmatic and flexible policy that changes to the needs of the situation.

Realpolitik is distinct from ideological politics in that it is not dictated by a fixed set of rules but instead tends to be goal-oriented, limited only by practical exigencies.

Since Realpolitik is ordered toward the most practical means of securing national interests, it can often entail compromising on ideological principles.