Table Of ContentTHE POLITICAL REALISM OF REINHOLD NIEBUHR
The Political Realism of
Reinhold Niebuhr
A Pragmatic Approach to Just War
Calm McKeagh
Lecturer,Department ofPolitical ScienceandPublicPolicy
University ofWaikato
Hamilton
NewZealand
First published in Great Britain 1997 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
Softcoverreprint ofthe hardcover1st edition 1997
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-25893-2 ISBN 978-1-349-25891-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-25891-8
First published in the United States of America 1997 by
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-17629-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McKeogh, Colm, 1965-
The political realism of Reinhold Niebohr : a pragmatic approach
to the just war I Colm McKeogh.
p. cm.
lncludes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-17629-7
I. Niebuhr, Reinhold, 1892-1971--Contributions in just war
doctrine. 2. Just war doctrine-History-20th century. 3. Niebuhr,
Reinhold, 1892-1971-Contributions in political theology.
4. Christianity and politics-History-20th century. I. Title.
BX4827.N5M37 1997
241 '.6242'092--dc21 97-13670
CIP
© Colm McKeogh 1997
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1098765 4 3 2 I
06 05 04 03 02 01 ()() 99 98 97
To Viv
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction: Reinhold Niebuhr and political realism 1
1. Niebuhr's critique ofpacifism 19
2. Force and order 38
3. Freedom and constraint 54
4. Morality and the state:just war 71
5. Morality and the state: Niebuhr 95
6. Niebuhr's ethic ofinternational politics 121
Conclusions: a pragmatic approach to just war 141
Notes 154
Bibliography 175
Index 179
vii
Acknowledgements
This book began as a doctoral thesis submitted to Trinity College,
Dublin in 1993. I am grateful to the University of Dublin and the
Department of Political Sciencefor their financial support and good
example. I was privileged to have as my supervisor Dr. J. L. Hyland
whose generous instruction and highstandardshave,I hope, lefttheir
mark on me and on this book. The Department of Political Science
and Public Policy at the University of Waikato, New Zealand pro
videdmewith the opportunityto rewritethe thesisasa book.Most of
all, I am thankful to my wife,Viv,for her love and company during
the three years in Dublin.This book isdedicated to her.
Introduction
Reinhold Niebuhr and Political Realism
Reinhold Niebuhr was one of America's most influential religious
thinkers of the twentieth century and one of its leading social critics
and political polemicists. His writings on ethics and politics are im
portant, not least for the historical role he played in laying a moral
foundation for the post-l945'realist' schoolofinternationalrelations.
They are important too as one of this century's most sincere and
informed attempts to delineate the role of morality in state affairs.
He came to prominence in the 1930sand 1940sas an exponent of
political realism, a persecutor of pragmatic pacifists and an advocate
ofthe United States' responsibility to use force in opposing the Nazi
and Sovietthreatsto theworld.Hewasaman ofgreat energywholed
a long and active life, and both his written output and his political
activity wereenormous. He wrote in response to the great issuesand
eventsofhistimeand produced21books, contributedto 12more and
wrote over 2600 articles. American politicians of his time, including
Adlai Stevenson, McGeorge Bundy and HubertHumphrey, paid trib
ute to his impact on their approach to politics. In Britain, notable
figures on the Left such as Denis Healey, Tony Benn and Richard
Crossman acknowledged his influence on their thought.1 Niebuhr
reached the peak of his influence in the United States in the 1940s
and early 1950s,aswitnessedbyhisappearanceon the coversof Time
magazine in 1948and of Life magazine in 1946and again in 1948.2
From that peak, Niebuhr's status declined markedly. His public
role was curtailed by a stroke in February 1952 and, although he
continued to publish articles and books on the issues of the times
almost until his death in 1971 at the age of 78, his influence dimin
ished greatly. By the late 1960s,one commentator noted, it was as
thoughNiebuhrhad neverlived.?His themesofthe tragedy and irony
of history were not appreciated by a decade seeking impassioned
moral judgement and resolute action." By the 1980s,he seemed to
be largely forgotten, rarely cited in intellectual debates and unknown
to most university students.The 1990s,however, saw a resurgenceof
interest in his work and especially his political ethics, a 'Niebuhr
renascence' which brought a renewed flurry of commentary.5
2 The Political Realism ofReinhold Niebuhr
President Clinton revived a near-tradition amongst US presidents of
the latter half of the twentieth century and cited Niebuhr as an
influence.f The renewed interest also brought widelydivergent inter
pretations of Niebuhr's political legacy;he was claimed as the fore
runner ofneo-conservatism, portrayed as an intellectual apologist for
the Cold War, and evenblamed for the attitude to force which led to
the United States' involvement in Vietnam." Although his lasting
place in political thought is still uncertain, his status as one of the
most significant figures in American Christianity in the twentieth
century has been re-established.
Born in Wright City, Missouri, 1892, into a German-speaking
family, Reinhold Niebuhr was the son of an immigrant pastor of the
German Evangelical Synod and the elder brother of the Yale theolo
gian H. Richard Niebuhr." He decided at an early age to follow his
father into the ministry and graduatedfrom Eden Theological Semin
ary, near StLouis,in 1913and from Yale Divinity Schoolin 1915.He
served aspastor at BethelEvangelicalChurch in Detroit for 13years,
including the difficultanti-German yearsofWorld War I. Hepresided
over the Church's move from German to English, before moving to
Union Theological Seminary, New York, where he lectured in Chris
tian Social Ethics.
Whereas his brother was the 'theologian's theologian', Reinhold
Niebuhr declined to identify himself as a professional theologian at
all, admitting that hewasneither competentin the nicepoints ofpure
theology norsufficientlyinterested to acquire the competence. Instead
hegavehiswork asthe 'defenceandjustificationoftheChristianfaith
in a secular age, particularly among those whom the theologian
Schleiermacher called Christianity's "cultured despisers",.9 He was a
theorist and practitioner of applied Christianity, in particular of
Christianity applied to social, economic and political life. He was
a pragmatic thinker and activist concerned with both religion and
politics, rather than an abstract theorist of either, and his intended
audience wasbroader than just the Christian or Protestant element of
American society.
The most momentous events of the twentieth century occurred
during Niebuhr's adult lifeand they wereof great significancein the
development of his Christian realist and political realist outlook. His
thoughtand writingdevelopedasreactions to World War I, the Great
Depression, the riseto power of Hitler, World War II, the spread and
consolidation of Stalinism and the advent of the Cold War. As a
pastor in Detroit from 1915 to 1928 he experienced the trauma of
Introduction 3
war and witnessed the harsh lifeof industrial workers in the home of
the American automobile industry. Niebuhr's experience in Detroit
influenced the character and direction of his thought. His interest
spread beyond his parish to the great social issues erupting in the
Detroit area. He championed the labourmovement and servedon the
Detroit Council of Churches Industrial Relations Commission. In
particular, he spoke out passionately against the work practices
imposed by Henry Ford, such as the lack of unemployment insurance
and old-age pensions.
His failure in this confrontation with that great industrialist
taught Niebuhr a lesson about the limits of rational and moral
argument in the face of the self-interest and economic power of the
wealthy and privileged. At the same time, his reflections on the
causes of World War I led Niebuhr to conclude that if the 'moral
pretensions of the heroes were bogus, the iniquity of the villains was
not as malicious as it once appeared'v'" Niebuhr, like many liberals,
had seen the shattering of Woodrow Wilson's new world order as a
failure of liberalism itself. His experience of Detroit economic rela
tions in the 1920s caused him to question further the fundamental
principles of political liberalism. In particular, he recognised that
education and appeals to conscience must be supplemented by a
realistic use of power. Neither powerful industrialists like Henry
Ford nor heads of state like the Kaiser could be opposed effectively
with moral idealism alone; in June 1919, he concluded that 'we need
something lesscircumspect than liberalism to save the world'.11 Initi
ally, for Niebuhr that something was Marxism; in particular, he
appreciated Marxism's realistic acceptance that justice could never
be achieved unless power was used to combat the egotism of groups
and classes.
Thus while in Detroit he joined the Fellowship for a Christian
Social Order and also the Fellowship of Reconciliation. If Detroit
was the scene for much of Niebuhr's practice of politically applied
Christianity, it was also where he came to national prominence
through provocative articles for such journals as Atlantic Monthly,
The World Tomorrow, The Nation and The Christian Century. Owing
in part to his growing national reputation as a controversial writer
and public speaker, Niebuhr was offered the position of associate
professor of Christian Ethics at New York's Union Theological
Seminary. In September 1928, he joined the faculty of the seminary,
situated in Manhattan at Broadway and 120th Street (later re
named ReinholdNiebuhr Place).Despite offersfrom more prestigious
