Понятие власти/могущества и его трансформация в политическом реализме

Полития: Анализ. Хроника. Прогноз. 2023. № 2(109). С. 6–18.

Kucherenko S.

The article discusses the transformation of the power concept in realism in IR studies. The term is used in its English orthography, because it took meanings throughout history, that are difficult to convey with a single word. Thanks to the criticism of political realism in recent decades, a consensus on the development of the concept has begun to emerge in the theory of IR. The classical realists, above all Hans Morgenthau, are believed to have understood the power as an inter-individual relationship, that has psychological and normative dimensions. The reform of realism by Kenneth Walz and other structuralists stripped power of these dimensions, turning it into a notion of calculable material capabilities. Critics of structural realism present this transformation as an impoverishment of the concept that has dangerous consequences for IR studies. According to the, structural realism is a disguised power politics ideology, that must be transformed by turning to earlier sources and employing of classical concepts, that are presumed to be more complex and richer.

The author supposes that transformation of the concept of power had reasons beyond pure ideology. On one hand, classical realism already used “power” to denote “material might” therefore containing the prerequisites for later reformulations. Morgenthau's notion of power differs from other classics’, but not outstandingly. On the other hand, Morgenthau's notion of power in its original formulation is ill-suited for analysis within the framework of his own theory and reveals a number of contradictions and difficulties related to the ontological dimension of his project of political realism.

Keywords: международные отношения, власть, политический реализм, political power, political realism, International Relations, могущество, Hans Morgenthau, Ганс Моргентау, might

Publication based on the results of: Ethical mechanisms in the lawmaking process (2023)