Book Reviews : Christian Ethics and the Dilemmas of Foreign Policy. By KENNETH W. THOMP- SON. (Durham, N. C.: The Duke University Press, 1959. Pp. xiv, 148. $3.50.)
| Date | 01 June 1960 |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591296001300250 |
| Published date | 01 June 1960 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
559
Christian
Ethics
and
the
Dilemmas
of
Foreign
Policy.
By
KENNETH
W.
THOMP-
SON.
(Durham,
N.
C.:
The
Duke
University
Press,
1959.
Pp.
xiv,
148.
$3.50.)
Current
studies
in
international
relations
often
emphasize
two
recent
tend,
encies:
(1)
the
development
of
a
cult
of
power
which
either
rejects
or
depreciates
values
and
ethics;
and
(2)
the
establishment
of
a
&dquo;theory&dquo;
of
international
re,
lations
which
bears
little
relation
to
the
realities
of
the
subject.
These
stimulating
lectures
consciously
seek
to
construct
a
bridge
between
the
fact of
power
and
the
need
of
values.
They
also,
somewhat
imperceptibly
and
perhaps
uncon-
sciously,
discourage
the
employment
of
theorems
incapable
of
empirical
testing,
and
designed
only
for
a
model
world.
While
Dr.
Thompson
stresses
values,
he
is
writing
of
a
real
and
not
a
fancied
world.
In
laying
his
foundation,
the
author
discusses
&dquo;Moral
Imperatives
and
the
Ambiguities
of
International
Life.&dquo;
Should
the
social
sciences
be
value-free,
and
shall
their
observers
be
purposeless
in
their
pursuit
of
light
and
the
truth?
Or
shall
these
sciences
be
value-based,
and
their
observers
purposeful
in
their
in-
quiries ?
The
author
tries
to
fit
in
between
these
extremes.
After
some
historical
comments
on
the
natural
and
the
positive
law,
Dr.
Thompson
selects
three
contemporary
figures
from
Western
life
active
in
the
fields
of
law,
religion
and
politics,
respectively:
Judge
Charles
de
Visscher,
Dr.
Reinhold
Niebuhr,
and
Sir
Winston
Churchill.
Criticism
could
be
made
of
the
fields
selected,
for
they
are
professions
rather
than
institutions;
and
of
the
men
selected
because
they
are
great
leaders,
and
hardly
typical
of
the
relation
be-
tween
power
and
value
on
an
ordinary
scale.
Yet
the
author
is
convincing
in
the
use
he
makes
of
them.
Judge
de
Visscher
contends
that
the
world
strives
for
but has
not
attained
a
genuine
world
community,
and
that
neither
law
nor
politics
can
ensure
peace
without
a
&dquo;moral
infrastructure.&dquo;
Dr.
Niebuhr
admits
that
all
nations
are
guided
by
a
national
interest
that
often
defies
these
transcend-
ent
values,
but
insists
that
in
the
end,
such
interest
must
inevitably
yield
to
higher
considerations
of
&dquo;civilization&dquo;
and
&dquo;justice.&dquo;
Sir
Winston
Churchill
ex-
pressly
rejects
the
reduction
of
all
politics
to
an
exact
science,
and
constructs
a
&dquo;political
morality&dquo;
of
three
dimensions:
the
moral
dignity
of
the
national
in-
terest ;
the
mutuality
of
national
interests;
and
opposition
to
tyranny.
On
such
considerations
Dr.
Thompson
founds
his
major
premise.
In
&dquo;implementing&dquo;
his
thesis,
the
author
first
selects
three
dilemmas
in
for-
eign
policy
today,
i.e.,
armaments,
colonialism,
and
diplomacy,
and
subjects
each
to
analysis
in
the
light
of
national
interest
and
ultimate
value.
I
wish
that
he
had
chosen
more
striking
examples,
for
armaments
are
universal,
and
we
must
have
a
measure
of
armament,
even
to
keep
the
peace;
colonialism
is
on
the
way
out
and
therefore
dated;
and
diplomacy
is
too
often
merely
a
process.
However,
each
subject
is
enlivened
by
relevant
comment -
especially
is
this
true
of
the
author’s
reference
to
&dquo;parliamentary
diplomacy.&dquo;
In
a
closely
reasoned
chapter,
Dr.
Thompson
relates
Judaeo-Christian
real-
ism
to
the
cold
war
and
the
ensuing
search
for
&dquo;relevant
norms.&dquo;
The
result
can-
not
be
a
black
and
white,
or
a
&dquo;saint
and
sinner&dquo;
proposition.
It
is
not,
as
he
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