Illiberal and irrational? Trump and the challenge of liberal modernity in US foreign policy

Karkour, Haro L. 2021. Illiberal and irrational? Trump and the challenge of liberal modernity in US foreign policy. International Relations 35 (4) , pp. 533-550. 10.1177/0047117820954231

PDF - Published Version Download (156kB)

Abstract

Building on a growing body of literature on the application of Morgenthau’s ethics to post-Cold War US foreign policy, this article applies Morgenthau’s concept of irrationality to Trump’s foreign policy. Based on this application, the article highlights the limit of rationality in Morgenthau’s theoretical analysis. Specifically, the article argues, pace neo-realist critiques of ‘liberal hegemony’, that Trump reveals an empirical puzzle: US foreign policy can be both irrational and illiberal simultaneously in the pursuit of nationalistic universalism. This is the case, the article argues, because nationalistic universalism in Morgenthau’s analysis is not rooted in liberalism per se but the dynamics of liberal modernity. The Trump puzzle thus reveals an on-going tension between rationality and liberal modernity in Morgenthau’s theoretical analysis: rationality offers an insufficient tool to take upon the challenge of liberal modernity from which Trump’s nationalistic universalism stems. This, the article concludes, leaves Morgenthau’s concept of interest ‘defined in terms of power’ open to misappropriation to ends contrary to their original aim: furthering nationalistic universalism, rather than limiting power. Keywords irrationality, Morgenthau, Trump, US foreign policy

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Cardiff Law & Politics
Additional Information:	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us-sagepub-com.abc.cardiff.ac.uk/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Publisher:	SAGE Publications (UK and US)
ISSN:	0047-1178
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	26 October 2020
Date of Acceptance:	20 August 2020
Last Modified:	05 May 2023 08:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/135875

Citation Data

Cited 1 time in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item