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Reinhold Niebuhr: State Governance in Times of Crisis

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Religion and the Liberal State in Niebuhr's Christian Realism

Part of the book series: Staat – Souveränität – Nation ((SSN))

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Abstract

In this contribution, it will be shown how Niebuhr's anthropology shaped his outlook on the nation-state and its role in international politics. Thereby, the role of the statesman and teacher of the people and as representative of their interests is stressed. Reasons for his influence on diplomats and important personalities are given. The articles concludes that Niebuhr's thinking is timely in times of a renaissance of great power politics and the emergence of a new challenger to the U. S. hegemony.

I thank Christoph Rohde for a valuable discussion concerning the topics of this paper and for important information with reference to more recent publication on Niebuhr.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Well-known scholars of this group included F.S. Dunn, Arnold Wolfers and Nicolas J. Spykman.

  2. 2.

    “Ultimately [the possession of nuclear weapons] may equalize military strength because it places a fairly cheap form of destructiveness in the hands of even weak nations, provided they have uranium deposits” (quoted from Rohde 2016, p. 174).

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  1. Wolfratshausen, Germany

    Ingmar Niemann

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  1. Ingmar Niemann
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  1. LMU München, München, Germany

    Christoph Rohde

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Niemann, I. (2021). Reinhold Niebuhr: State Governance in Times of Crisis. In: Rohde, C. (eds) Religion and the Liberal State in Niebuhr's Christian Realism. Staat – Souveränität – Nation. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-34464-1_8

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