The political realism of Reinhold Niebuhr : a pragmatic approach to the just war

Reinhold Niebuhr rose to prominenece in the 1930s and 1940s for his vociferous opposition both to Nazism and to isolationism as an American response to that threat. He rejected both pacifism and the legalism of the just war tradition. His pragmatic and realist approach to the ethics of force eschews absolute rules or restrictions. The work examines Niebuhr's consequentialist approach to ethics and war from the perspective of political theory. Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction....Pages 1-18 Niebuhr’s Critique of Pacifism....Pages 19-37 Force and Order....Pages 38-53 Freedom and Constraint....Pages 54-70 Morality and the State: Just War....Pages 71-94 Morality and the State: Niebuhr....Pages 95-120 Niebuhr’s Ethic of International Politics....Pages 121-140 Conclusion....Pages 141-153 Back Matter....Pages 154-180 Colm Mckeogh. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 175-178) And Index.