Paradigmi e metamorfosi del realismo politico

Abstract

In the second half of the twentieth century, the category of political realism, in conjunction with international relations theory and a renewed interest in geopolitics, returned forcefully to the consciousness of scholars. This contribution traces the theoretical structures of political realism, from the authors of the canon (Thucydides, Machiavelli, Hobbes) to the elitists concerned with the question of who and how power is acquired, to the proponents of empirical political realism attentive to the context of the continuity of tradition in political action. The paper concludes with a reflection on the overlap between politics and ethics.