| Popis: |
International law scholarship routinely identifies power as the preeminent goal of states and empires. What has regularly been ignored, however, is that lucid definitions of power can be problematic and that the most starkly compelling form of global power is never calculated. This form is power over death. In order to acquire this ultimate form of power, various leaders have felt obligated to seek the “death” of other states or empires. Now, by examining this zero-sum calculus more deliberately, international law scholars may discover that any such seemingly interminable struggle is marked by an ironic reciprocity: In essence, each state’s struggle for the elimination of certain designated others may actually represent a considered defense against its own annihilation. Such perplexing simultaneity suggests that the truest rationale of realpolitik, or power politics, is never “just” acquisition of territory, wealth, or “victory.” Though unacknowledged and inconspicuous, this truest rationale is nothing less than personal immortality. Expressed more tangibly, and recalling Heinrich von Treitschke’s Lectures on Politics: “Individual man sees in his country the realization of his earthly immortality.” |
