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ID: 085897

Cryptic cold war realism of Leo Strauss / Drolet, Jean-François

Drolet, Jean-François	Journal Article
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Publication

2009.

Summary/Abstract

This paper seeks to shed light upon recent controversies concerning Leo Strauss' alleged influence on contemporary American and global politics. It exposes and analyses Strauss' trenchant critique of liberal modernity and then offers a critical discussion on the nature of his legacy and the reception of his ideas in the United States since the 1950s. It is argued that although there are very good reasons to be anxious about the political implications of his ideas, when understood in the cultural and intellectual context of Weimar Germany and post-war America, Strauss' philosophical enterprise is more ambiguous than it has been suggested by his most fervent detractors in recent feuds over America's 'war on terror'. To the extent that Strauss has anything to do with contemporary politics and international relations, the analysis presented here suggests that his influence has less to do with the Bush administration's war cabinet than with the long-drawn efforts of neo-conservative intellectuals to foment the political and socio-cultural conditions that have facilitated the 're-nationalisation' of America and its incremental departure from the socio-economic and geopolitical pacts of the post-war period since the 1970s.

Key Words

Realism ; Modernity ; Liberal Democracy ; Leo Strauss ; Neo - Conservatism

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ID: 117028

Leo Strauss and international relations: the politics of modernity's abyss / Hirst, Aggie

Hirst, Aggie	Journal Article
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Publication

2012.

Summary/Abstract

This article argues that an engagement with the political philosophy of Leo Strauss is of considerable value in International Relations (IR), in relation to the study of both recent US foreign policy and contemporary IR theory. The question of Straussian activities within and close to the foreign policy-making establishment in the United States during the period leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq has been the focus of significant scholarly and popular attention in recent years. This article makes the case that several individuals influenced by Strauss exercised considerable influence in the fields of intelligence production, the media and think tanks, and traces the ways in which elements of Strauss' thought are discernible in their interventions in these spheres. It further argues that Strauss' political philosophy is of broader significance for IR insofar as it can be read as a securitising response to the dangers he associated with the foundationlessness of the modern condition. The article demonstrates that the politics of this response are of crucial importance for contemporary debates between traditional and critical IR theorists.

Key Words

Iraq ; 9/11 ; Leo Strauss ; IR Theory ; Straussians ; Abyss

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