Political Realism in International Relations - Essay Example

Richard Nixon was the President of the United States from 1969 to 1974 and Kissinger who serves as his security advisor together formed the Détente policy with the Soviet Union. This policy was made to ease the tense situation internationally (whitehouse.gov, History of the National Security Council, 1947–1997). In terms of Realism, The Détente policy was an extension of the containment policy which was made by Kennan, the only difference being the reality of the situation. That is the Containment theory which was formed during post-World War II whereas the Détente was formed during the Vietnam War.

The political realism of the twentieth century was born to counteract the idealistic approach that was dominating the international relationship after World War I (plato.stanford.edu, Political Realism in International Relations). Nixon and Kissinger’s national security process resembled Kennan’s and was also consistent with the past thought Kissinger’s (Worley).

It was between 1945 and 1960 when George F. Kennan made and implemented the containment doctrine which helped the United States to dominate over the Soviet Union in the cold war. Keenan observed that all America needed was a global tactic that had the capacity to unite the Americans and the opinion against the Soviet Union. Many people favored Nixon and Kissinger’s policy more because it dealt with crisis management on a much better scale and had set their target to meet the bigger picture. But Gaddis also believed that both Nixon and Kissinger took the containment theory and altered them to be used during the times of the Vietnam War. The approaches of Nixon and Kissinger were based on the realist tradition which is why they designed their foreign policy on this theory. People do question the Cambodian bombing but Kissinger and Nixon are both appreciated for their dedication and hard work that restored the orders to the world affairs to a certain extent and provided the American people with the standards of justice (Gaddis, 275-343). Kennan suggested that America should not imagine attacking the Soviet Union. He often got confused about his counsels and the results of those consultations at several instances during the Cold War; he observed that the arms race was in fact a catastrophe. However, For Kennan, the policy of international relations was more for the power to dominate rather than about morality (Heilbrunn).