Fourteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Edward Hallet Carr’s contributions to the foundational realist approach to politics cannot be understated. Carr, in claiming realistic politics, sought not only the ideal, but also the necessary and the possible in political life. Carr’s important contributions to shaping the field of international relations and social science, however, have been blurred at times by a dichotomous understanding of realism and utopia. The work of Hannah Arendt on the topic of power politics and violence is similarly fundamental to political science, though often distant from theories of international relations and political realism. Hannah Arendt’s conception of politics assumes the human role of tending to the world in a realist sense, prescribing a fundamental, creative role for power in political activity. This project links E.H. Carr and Hannah Arendt to better delineate the role of realism and utopia in the study of politics and social change. It produces two important findings. First, I demonstrate that Carr’s critique in The Twenty Years’ Crisis is aimed at an unfounded moralization of politics and violence—not utopianism as usually understood. Second, the project produces a methodological analysis of the uses of utopia and realism for appraising the deployment of power, violence, and conflict in politics. This paper discusses the possibilities of a reality and utopia within the parameters of today’s unpredictable political world.