Raison d’État Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Raison d’état is a French phrase, loosely translated as “reason for being,” often used to describe a state’s national interests or goals. Historically, the main raison d’état of any state was protecting one’s survival, which theorists and political leaders asserted was best ensured by expanding the power of the state through military territorial conquests or acquisition of greater economic resources. According to some theorists, from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries, state survival and security took precedence over political or foreign policy considerations. Writing in the early1500s, Italian political scientist Niccolò Machiavelli argued that a nation’s national interests superseded any moral or ethical constraints on use of aggressive action. Consequently, if state survival was at stake, a government might disregard any international norms or customs to safeguard its nation.

These ideas were exemplified in the seventeenth century when put into practice by the French politician and diplomat Cardinal de Richelieu, whose foreign policy emphasized political realism and power politics. Although a Catholic cardinal, Richelieu developed policies centralizing state powers over the church or dynastic considerations, as well as entered France into practical alliances with Protestant states in effort to preserve France during Europe’s continental Thirty Years War (1618–1648). Since the rise of Palestinian terrorism in the 1970s, Israel often has come under international scrutiny by the United Nations, Arab states, and international human rights organizations for its domestic and transnational antiterrorism methods and segregation of the Palestinian population. Given Israel’s military superiority to Palestinian terrorists, Israel’s military raids into Gaza and the West Bank or international targeted killings often draw international criticism if Palestinian civilians become collateral damage or international laws are breached. However, Israeli leaders continue to justify their behavior under raison d’etat, as their military use protects their national interests from a demonstrated record of Palestiniansponsored terrorist activities in Israel.

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