Dictionary

realpolitik en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈɹi.əlˌpɑ.lɪˌtɪk/ (US)
• /ɹeɪˈɑːlpɒlɪˌtiːk/ (UK)
• /ɹiˈɑlpoʊlɪˌtik/ (US)
• /ɹeɪˈɑlpoʊlɪˌtik/ (US)

Etymology

Borrowed from German Realpolitik (literally “practical, realistic, fact-based, realism-based politics”).

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Pragmatic, often expansionist, diplomacy and politics focused on perceived national interests of the state to the near exclusion of ethical, moral, and theoretical objectives.
   • Possibly the Germans themselves regard their Realpolitik as but the continuation of the philosophic tradition of disillusionment: like Xenophanes they would remind us that the gods of the Ethiopians are snub-nosed and swart, of the Thracians blue-eyed and red-haired, and that if oxen had gods their gods would be oxen. 1918, Hartley Burr Alexander, Liberty and democracy: and other essays in war-time:
   • Realpolitik, in one or another form, is, therefore, from the standpoint of science and of abstract principle, immoral, unsound and no defense of it on the ground of concrete necessity can make it otherwise. 1932, Elisha Ely Garrison, The Riddle of Economics, page 254:
   • Twenty-first century nation states will no longer tolerate even the mild humiliation of hosting the detritus of 18th- and 19th-century empires. Most European empires were born of the realpolitik of power, mostly the treaties of Utrecht (1713) and Paris (1763). The same realpolitik now ordains their dismantling. An early purpose of the United Nations was to bring this about. 2013 August 14, Simon Jenkins, “Gibraltar and the Falklands deny the logic of history”, in The Guardian:
   • It is Realpolitik in sport, and a Realpolitik which is not wholly unknown in England; but while the spirit of Realpolitik is still perceivable in German sport, it is equally perceivable that the standard English way of viewing sporting competition is becoming more and more approached in Germany. 1913, Stanley Shaw, William of Germany, page 357:

Forms

Coordinates

Machiavellianism

Deriveds

realpolitiker · realpolitikal · realpolitician · dreampolitik

Hypernyms

pragmatism · realism

Translations (34)

ar وَاقِعِيَّة سِيَاسِيَّة (pragmatic international government policy) · eo realecpolitiko (pragmatic international government policy) · ja 現実政治 (pragmatic international government policy) · da realpolitik (pragmatic international government policy) · be рэа́льная палі́тыка (pragmatic international government policy) · et reaalpoliitika (pragmatic international government policy) · th เรอาลโพลิทีค (pragmatic international government policy) · fr réal-politique (pragmatic international government policy) · nl realpolitik (pragmatic international government policy) · fr realpolitik (pragmatic international government policy) · ta மெய் அரசியல்சார் (pragmatic international government policy) · fr réalpolitique (pragmatic international government policy) · id realpolitik (pragmatic international government policy) · fr réalpolitik (pragmatic international government policy) · ru реа́льная поли́тика (pragmatic international government policy) · ru реалполити́к (pragmatic international government policy) · pl Realpolitik (pragmatic international government policy) · de Realpolitik (pragmatic international government policy) · th การเมืองเชิงปฏิบัติ (pragmatic international government policy) · fa سیاست واقعی (pragmatic international government policy) · is raunsæispólitík (pragmatic international government policy) · is raunsæisstjórnmál (pragmatic international government policy) · nb realpolitikk (pragmatic international government policy) · fa واقعگرایانه (pragmatic international government policy) · sv realpolitik (pragmatic international government policy) · ko 현실정치 (pragmatic international government policy) · kmr siyaseta reel (pragmatic international government policy) · cmn 現實政治 /现实政治 (pragmatic international government policy) · es realpolitik (pragmatic international government policy) · fi reaalipolitiikka (pragmatic international government policy) · uk реа́льна полі́тика (pragmatic international government policy) · it Realpolitik (pragmatic international government policy) · ja レアルポリティーク (pragmatic international government policy) · el ρεαλπολιτίκ (pragmatic international government policy)