PoliGazette » Where are the Realists?

Where are the Realists?

Filed under: Foreign Affairs, Media Criticism — Michael van der Galien, Editor-in-Chief on January 17, 2008 @ 5:31 pm CET

Earlier today, Jason linked to an article at Salon, in which Stephen M. Walt writes that American newspapers should hire some foreign policy realists; they’ve got neoconservative columnists, and liberal columnists, but no realists.

Although I agree with that I think there’s one problem: realists are boring. The liberals and neocons talk about lofty ideals, realists take reality as it is and basically tell everyone “that’s not gonna happen. That’s not gonna work.” Of course, more often than not they’re right, but since they’re realists their writing is realistic as well, which equals “boring” for the average reader who doesn’t take a great interest in the nuances of foreign policy.

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