IR

[lauraelizabeth]

St Augustine.. is he a classical realist? is his work all realist work? I have to present on him on Weds, and I haven't got a clue.. i guess this is the reason no one else volunteered huh?

[Icarus]

He's a classical 'Just War' theorist. He was writing after the Roman Empire had adopted Christianity, and as such he was faced with the question of how an empire could engage in war when it had adopted what was previously a pacifist religion. He believed war could be just if it was fought with the correct intention, and so long as it wasn't fought for personal glory. One also shouldn't get any sort of enjoyment out of it.

You could call him a realist in a way then. Even though he's a Christian he accepts that war is necessary, and as such he implicitly recognises the predominance of power in international relations, which is a fairly realist approach. But I wouldn't overstress the point. His primary concerns were religious. He discusses what is in his opinion the morally right thing to do, even when he's talking about power and war, which of course isn't very realist at all. It'd be more accurate in my view to call him the first person to fully articulate a just war theory, rather than just labelling him a classical realist.

Sorry that was very rambling. Hope it helps.

[lauraelizabeth]

thank you my question is how his views of human nature can relate to views of international relations, so that's why i was trying to link it to a theory...

[AR]

you know a really great way to learn about this topic is to actually, you know, do some reading.

[hr]

"Well la de dah... la de dah"
--annie hall

[lauraelizabeth]

Quoting ar from 15:55, 8th Oct 2006
you know a really great way to learn about this topic is to actually, you know, do some reading.

[hr]

"Well la de dah... la de dah"
--annie hall

hello ar. do you think that i didn't bother to do some reading? if you can't say anything helpful, please don't bother.

[grousefanatic]

If it's second year IR (that was the year I read about Augustine for class) then I think you'd be reading City of God or whatever it is (it's shocking I can't quite remember). In that case, if memory serves which it may not, talk a bit about the duality of human nature - how we should be living in a paradise (the City of God) with our divine and positive nature, but the way we are is brutish and warlike so we actually live in the Earthly City. Then extrapolate that to peace v war in the international system and it's quite simple from there on in.

That was my take on it at least

[hr]

veni vidi nates calce concidi - i came, i saw, i kicked ass