- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
-
1 The Case for Regime Change -
2 Liberal Legacies, Europe’s Totalitarian Era, and the Iraq War -
3 “Regime Change” -
4 In the Murk of It -
5 National Interest and International Law -
6 Just War against an “Outlaw” Region -
7 Moral Arguments -
8 A Friendly Drink in a Time of War -
9 Wielding the Moral Club -
10 Peace, Human Rights, and the Moral Choices of the Churches -
11 Ethical Correctness and the Decline of the Left -
12 Pages from a Daily Journal of Argument -
13 Liberal Realism or Liberal Idealism -
14 Iraq and the European Left -
15 Guilt’s End -
16 The Iraq War and the French Left -
17 Tempting Illusions, Scary Realities, or the Emperor’s New Clothes II -
18 Antitotalitarianism as a Vocation -
19 Sometimes, a War Saves People -
20 Gulf War Syndrome Mark II -
21 “They Don’t Know One Little Thing” -
22 “Why Did It Take You So Long to Get Here?” -
23 Full Statement to the House of Commons, 18 March 2003 -
24 The Threat of Global Terrorism - Contributors
- Index
Liberal Realism or Liberal Idealism
Liberal Realism or Liberal Idealism
The Iraq War and the Limits of Tolerance
- Chapter:
- (p.207) 13 Liberal Realism or Liberal Idealism
- Source:
- A Matter of Principle
- Author(s):
Richard Just
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
This chapter reports the younger generation of liberals who have abandoned idealism for realism, thus jeopardizing the continuation of the most important defining quality of the liberal internationalist tradition. It is much more difficult to justify the Iraq war in October 2004 than it was in April 2003. Even in the absence of Al Qaeda links or weapons of mass destruction, even given the extraordinary difficulty of building a democracy in Iraq, it was clearly in our moral interest and self-interest to see Saddam removed from power. The war on terrorism and the situation in Iraq are clearly the nation's most important foreign policy priorities, as they should be. While the Democrats' embracing of foreign policy realism is disturbing, perhaps it is only a transient matter of politics; after all, political realities change quickly. It is believed that Barrack Obama's impulse is worth following, at home and abroad.
Keywords: liberal realism, liberal idealism, Iraq war, Al Qaeda, Saddam, terrorism, foreign policy, Barrack Obama
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- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
-
1 The Case for Regime Change -
2 Liberal Legacies, Europe’s Totalitarian Era, and the Iraq War -
3 “Regime Change” -
4 In the Murk of It -
5 National Interest and International Law -
6 Just War against an “Outlaw” Region -
7 Moral Arguments -
8 A Friendly Drink in a Time of War -
9 Wielding the Moral Club -
10 Peace, Human Rights, and the Moral Choices of the Churches -
11 Ethical Correctness and the Decline of the Left -
12 Pages from a Daily Journal of Argument -
13 Liberal Realism or Liberal Idealism -
14 Iraq and the European Left -
15 Guilt’s End -
16 The Iraq War and the French Left -
17 Tempting Illusions, Scary Realities, or the Emperor’s New Clothes II -
18 Antitotalitarianism as a Vocation -
19 Sometimes, a War Saves People -
20 Gulf War Syndrome Mark II -
21 “They Don’t Know One Little Thing” -
22 “Why Did It Take You So Long to Get Here?” -
23 Full Statement to the House of Commons, 18 March 2003 -
24 The Threat of Global Terrorism - Contributors
- Index
