Table Of ContentReinhold Niebuhr and International
Relations Theory
This is the first book in international relations theory entirely devoted to the
political thought of Reinhold Niebuhr. Focusing on the existential theology
which lies at the basis of Reinhold Niebuhr’s theory of international politics, it
highlights the ways in which Niebuhrian realism was not only profoundly theo-
logical, but also constituted a powerful existentialist reconfiguration of the
Realist tradition going back to Saint Augustine.
Guilherme Marques Pedro offers an innovative account of Reinhold Nie-
buhr’s eclectic thought, branching out into politics, ethics, history, society and
religion and laying out a conceptual framework through which his work, as
much as the realist tradition of international political thought as a whole, can be
read. The book calls for the need to revisit classic thinkers within IR theory with
an eye to their interdisciplinary background and as a way to remind ourselves of
the issues that were at stake within the field as it was growing in autonomy and
diversity – issues which remain, regardless of its disciplinary development, at
the core of IR’s concerns.
This book offers an important contribution to IR scholarship, revealing the
great historical wealth, intellectual originality but also the limitations and para-
doxes of one of the greatest American political thinkers of the twentieth century.
Guilherme Marques Pedro holds a PhD from the Department of International
Politics in Aberystwyth. His research interests lie in international relations
theory, political thought and international law. He is a researcher in philosophy
of law at Uppsala University, Sweden. Previously, he was a lecturer at the Uni-
versity of Beira Interior, Portugal.
Routledge Research in IR Theory
1 Politicizing Ethics in International Relations
Cosmopolitanism as hospitality
Gideon Baker
2 Social Justice, Global Dynamics
Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives
Edited by Ayelet Banai, Miriam Ronzoni and Christian Schemmel
3 Reinhold Niebuhr and International Relations Theory
Realism beyond Thomas Hobbes
Guilherme Marques Pedro
Reinhold Niebuhr and
International Relations Theory
Realism beyond Thomas Hobbes
Guilherme Marques Pedro
First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 Guilherme Marques Pedro
The right of Guilherme Marques Pedro to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Marques Pedro, Builherme, author.
Title: Reinhold Niebuhr’s IR theory : realism beyond Thomas Hobbes /
Builherme Marques Pedro.
Other titles: Reinhold Niebuhr’s international relations theory
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2017. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017013921| ISBN 9781138737150 (hardback) | ISBN
9781315181622 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Realism–Political aspects. | Christianity and international
relations. | International relations–Philosophy. | Niebuhr, Reinhold,
1892–1971–Political and social views.
Classification: LCC JZ1307.M37 2017 | DDC 327.101–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017013921
ISBN: 978-1-138-73715-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-18162-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
To Francisca
who speaks not of God,
but of Stars.
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
List of abbreviations x
Introduction 1
Structure and method 4
1 ‘The father of us all’: the making of a Christian realist 17
Who was Reinhold Niebuhr? 18
Wilsonian temptations 26
2 Against the pagans: Christian realism as a critique of
political idolatry 48
False gods 49
God reborn 59
3 Fear God: human nature redefined 69
The Hobbesian ‘natural’ revolution: fear death, not God 70
‘In perpetual solicitude of the time to come’ 78
4 The existential turn in the realist tradition: Niebuhr’s
political ‘ontology of possibility’ 90
The ‘will- to-power’: international politics beyond survival 92
Anxiety and the ‘realism of distance’ 101
viii Contents
5 The anarchical community and the impossible possibilities
of a ‘fallen world’ 119
Anarchy and the normative foundations of the realist tradition 122
The world community and ‘the kingdom not of this world’ 136
Epilogue: Jusnaturalism for postmodern times? The poverty
of IR’s liberal–realist consensus 160
The poverty of IR’s liberal–realist consensus 160
Bibliography 184
Index 195
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my former supervisors, Howard Williams, Andrew Lin-
klater and Michael Williams, for their patient and passionate support – I could
not thank you enough; António Horta Fernandes, Carlos Gaspar, Carlos Blanco
de Morais, Ned Lebow, Campbell Craig, Patricia Mindus, Sebastian Reyes
Molina, Torben Spaak and Mauro Zamboni whose inspiring realism has made
me even more of a dreamer; my family for their lifelong encouragement and
enthusiastic anxiety; my colleagues at the Interpol Department in Aberystwyth
Mathew Fluck, Daniel McCarthy, Jen Bagelman, Joao Reis Nunes, Carlos and
Carlitos, Tom and Gerry, David Gill, Damien Van Puyvelde, Lisa Denney,
Andreja Zevnik and Vincent Keating; all the staff of IPRI, the Faculty of Law of
the University of Lisbon and the Department of Philosophy of Uppsala Univer-
sity; Francisco Corboz, Daniel Pinéu, Hannah Hughes, Erzsebet Strausz, William
Fillippe de Souza, Chris John Mueller, Pedro Velez, Jorge Azevedo Correia and
Ana Fouto whose brilliant minds and great hearts have opened my own; Gary
Dorrien, Anders Stephanson, Robert Jervis and Joel Rosenthal for having wel-
comed me to Reinhold Niebuhr’s intellectual home; Nuno Severiano Teixeira,
Madalena Resende, Michael Foley, Kamila Stulerova, William Bain, Tony
Erskine, Hidemi Suganami, Brian Schmidt, Nicholas Rengger and John Milbank
for their kind support and help; Quentin Skinner for his criticisms and advices
on method, Arne Gron for his assistance on Kierkegaard, Richard Wolin for his
clarifications on Heidegger and John Richardson for our discussions about
Nietzsche; Alcino Couto, Liliana Reis, Nuno Jerónimo, Nuno Augusto, Carlos
Venâncio, Pedro Guedes, André Barata, António Bento and António Amaral as
well as all my former students at the University of Beira Interior. Cyril Holm,
Sofia Näsström, Johan Tralau, Frederic Lambert, Loraine Gelsthorpe, David
McLellan, Joao Luís Lisboa, Pedro Tavares de Almeida, Diogo Pires Aurélio,
Sottomayor Cardia, and Maria Joao Andrade for showing me that ideas matter
and that great ideas matter greatly.
