realpolitik

Definition

Pragmatic, often expansionist, diplomacy and politics focused on perceived national interests of the state to the near exclusion of ethical, moral, and theoretical objectives.

Etymology

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

Example Sentences

• "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."
• "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."
• "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."