Political realism between American republicanism and German elitism

The focus of this study is a discussion between the representative of classical realism, H. Morgenthau, and the American theorists of republicanism, J. Calhoun and W. Sumner. The author argues that Morgenthau was proving the limitations of republican political theory. For this purpose, Morgenthau developed the concept of political power of the German theory of elitism. The content of the study is divided into three parts. First, the term “power” is analyzed in the political writings of representatives of German elitism of the Weimar Republic K. Schmitt, O. Spengler and E. Jünger. Next, the role of the concepts of “self-government” and “commonwealth” in Calhoun and Sumner’s theory is explored. Finally, the author shows how Morgenthau engages the notion of “power” against the conceptual foundations of republican theory. The methodology of the study is based on the principles of analyzing political texts formulated by representatives of the Cambridge School of the History of Ideas. This methodology allows us to focus on the theorist’s motivation to solve a political problem with the help of a set of concepts that are relevant to the current debate. The main conclusion of the study is that Morgenthau, in a polemic with republican theorists, constructed an image of the American empire of the Western Hemisphere, giving full authority to the central government and relegating the key republican principle of federalism to a way of decentralizing power at the regional level. Morgenthau’s victory in the debates with republican theorists also allows us to conclude that the establishment of the ideas of realism in the American science of international relations contributed to the transformation of the United States from a republic into a new centralized empire.