Towards a Theory of International Politics of Hans J. Morgenthau

Sa？etak Hans J. Morgenthau, who founded realist theory of international politics in the 1940s, has until recently been considered a positivist theorist of crude power politics in international relations. However, in recent years, with rising academic interest for his works, Morgenthau has been seen as a complex thinker and primarily a political theorist. This article aims to show Morgenthau’s political theory and its fundamental concepts that run through the three periods of his writing: up to the Second World War, during the post-war period, and in the 1960s. With a special overview of the pivotal studies from each of the above periods, this article will show that the purpose of Morgenthau’s theory of international politics is an attempt at constructing politics and the political as an answer to the deep social and political crisis of the modern West. His realist theory of international politics is not just an academic endeavor but also a political project of sorts