Kelsen’s Style of Political Thinking

What is political realism other than a form of political analysis and speaking truth to power? What is the national interest other than an ideological fiction of political idealism? The concluding chapter ties two intellectual halves together: there is Kelsen the gentle liberal and champion of open society ideals, and there is Kelsen the no-nonsense realist of political and international life. The synthesised progressive realist doesn’t believe in magic bullets or easy formulas: when it comes to the question of progress, there is the real You and the real Me, and in between, in some intimate place, is the twilight zone where the real political battle rages. What real realists do is take this struggle for power and peace to the international arena and work unceasingly towards global reform.