Leo Strauss and International Relations: The Politics of Modernity's Abyss
International Politics, 49 (6):
645--670 (2012)DOI: 10.1057/ip.2012.23
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.