Realism and the Liberal Tradition

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

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2. Introduction

   • Whittle Johnston, Stephen Sims

   Pages 1-25

3. “The Long Road to Theory”

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 27-27

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   2. Politics and Science

      • Whittle Johnston, Stephen Sims

      Pages 29-34

   3. Politics and Value, Part 1

      • Whittle Johnston, Stephen Sims

      Pages 35-52

   4. Politics and Value, Part 2

      • Whittle Johnston, Stephen Sims

      Pages 53-66

   5. The Scientist, the Moralist, and the Historian

      • Whittle Johnston, Stephen Sims

      Pages 67-94

4. International Relations and History

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 95-95

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   2. The States System

      • Whittle Johnston, Stephen Sims

      Pages 97-118

   3. The Balance of Power

      • Whittle Johnston, Stephen Sims

      Pages 119-151

5. Liberalism and History

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 153-153

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   2. The Development of the Liberal Tradition, Part 1

      • Whittle Johnston, Stephen Sims

      Pages 155-177

   3. The Development of the Liberal Tradition, Part 2

      • Whittle Johnston, Stephen Sims

      Pages 179-205

   4. The Development of the Liberal Tradition, Part 3

      • Whittle Johnston, Stephen Sims

      Pages 207-224

6. International Relations and Liberalism

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 225-225

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   2. The Problem of Community

      • Whittle Johnston, Stephen Sims

      Pages 227-244

   3. The American Alliance System

      • Whittle Johnston, Stephen Sims

      Pages 245-254

   4. Democratic Theory and International Relations

      • Whittle Johnston, Stephen Sims

      Pages 255-277

7. Back Matter

   Pages 279-288

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This book presents a posthumous collection of previously uncollected works of political theory written by Whittle Johnston. Johnston believed that both the liberal tradition of political thought and the realist tradition of international thought had contributed much to humanity’s store of political wisdom, but that each had limitations that could most easily be recognized by its encounter with the other. His method of accomplishing this task was to examine the liberal conception of political life in general and international political life in particular and then to explore the realist critique of the liberal view, particularly as it was expressed by three great twentieth-century realist thinkers, all of whom were, in their various ways, skeptical of liberal assumptions: Reinhold Niebuhr, Hans Morgenthau, and E. H. Carr. In doing so, Johnston reveals the power of the realist outlook, but also the areas in which it remains insufficient, and insufficient particularly where it underestimates the complexity and prudence that liberalism is capable of displaying. There have been studies of both liberalism and realism, but no other work has put them into conversation with each other in the way that this book does.

• realism
• liberalism
• political theory
• IR theory
• international relations
• IR
• constitutionalism
• balance of power
• political science

• Baylor University, USA, Waco, USA

  David Clinton

• Baylor University, Waco, USA

  Stephen Sims

• American University, Charlottesville, USA

  Whittle Johnston

Whittle Johnston lived from 1927 to 1996, serving on the faculty of the School of International Service at American University, USA, Swarthmore College, USA, Johns Hopkins University, USA, and the University of Virginia, USA.  He published on a wide variety of subjects in journals such as the Journal of Politics, Orbis, and The National Interest, but his main concern was always the enduring problem of maintaining order with justice in a world environment often driven by concerns of power. His works on E.H. Carr, Woodrow Wilson, and American policy in the Cold War all carried this stamp.


David Clinton is Professor and Chair of Political Science at Baylor University, USA. He has held appointments at Tulane University, USA, Colgate University, USA, Kansas State University, USA, Hamilton College, USA, and Union College, USA, and has served as a visiting scholar at St. Andrews University, Scotland, and at the University of Wales at Aberystwyth. He is the author of Tocqueville, Lieber, and Bagehot: Liberalism Confronts the World and The Realist Tradition and Contemporary International Relations.


Stephen Sims is a Lecturer in Political Science at Baylor University, USA, who has written on the relationship of political philosophy and international relations theory. In addition to publishing several essays with the Classics of Strategy and Diplomacy project, he is working on a current book manuscript with the working title of "Justice, Prudence, and Foreign Relations in Aristotle's Political Thought."

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