Realismens utveckling från Machiavelli till Morgenthau

Political realism is a general theory within political science focusing on the principle interest defined as power. The theory’s mutual standpoint is that states are inspired by power politics meaning that military and economic power or security stands in the centre while moral and ethics are placed in the periphery. This essay’s purpose is to analyze realism which helps to understand the development and change of the perspective. Focus is on classic realism within political science and the essay contains a comparison of the three theoretical philosophers Niccoló Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes and Hans J Morgenthau. The main question of the essay is: how has realism developed from Machiavelli to Morgenthau? The conclusion is that political realism has undergone a few large changes during the last four centuries but has mostly retained basic ideas. The most relevant adjustment is that realism has moved out from a highly immoral perspective to a perspective which actually contains various moral barricades. All the changes and non-changes within realism development can be observed in the model presented in the essay