Realpolotik?

No, it comes from German. It might be translated as "practical politics," as distinguished from the song and dance that politicians use to woo the public. So, for example, George Bush has made a concerted and a successful effort to woo the religious right in the United States. But he has not, and many of them are now complaining that he has not implemented the religiously-motivated agenda they expected him to put in place. For example, on the subject of abortion, a bare majority of Americans (figures alleged vary somewhat, but most "honest" surveys suggest that just slightly more than 50%--) support a woman's right to get an abortion. So, in speaking to his religious constituency, Bush might condemn abortion. But once in office, realpolitik dictates that he does not attempt to tamper with the situation.

realpolitik:

re·al·po·li·tik

Function:
noun

Usage:
often capitalized

Etymology:

German, from real actual + Politik politics

Date:
1914

: politics based on practical and material factors rather than on theoretical or ethical objectives

(Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary)

re·al·po·li·tik n.

A usually expansionist national policy having as its sole principle advancement of the national interest.

[German : real, practical + Politik, politics (from French politique, political, policy; see politic).]

(Answers-dot-com's German language site)

Another reference cites Ludwig von Rochau as coining the term in 1853 to describe American policy toward China. That, of course, contradicts the Merriam-Webster entry quoted above.

If the term Realpolitik is used in German, it describes some modest, especially realistic forms in politics (as opposite to to overzealous, unrealistic politics).

Members of the (German) Green Party are divided (by the media) in Realos (realists) and Fundis (fundamentalists or ideologues).


Set's translation is correct, though I would prefer realistic more (instead of practical).

The term was used the first by Ludwig August von Rochau after the 1848 revolution. He then published fasmous polemic paper, "Grundsätze der Realpolitik, angewendet auf die staatlichen Zustände Deutschlands" ['Principles of realpolitik, applied to the state circumstances in Germany'}(Stuttgart 1853 and 1859; reprinted 1972).

Rochau coined the term 'socialism' ("Sozialismus") for the first time in German, too, in 1840.

The editor of the reprint was Weber - someone I trust to have looked at the sources (actually, both, the 1853 as well as the 1859 edition are in various university libraries).

His book was broadly discused in the 50' and 60's of 19th century - and those were the years, when the term "realpolitik" was most used. In German.
According to thesis published in 2005 by the Max-Planck-Institute for Law History, Rochau's work is a central chapter in the history of science and theory of the relationship between law and politics in 19th century Germany.
(The book bases [mainly] on his experience in [pre-]1848, so nothing to with China and/or America.)

Thanks, Walter. When i read that other reference, i was rather perplexed, as America in 1853 was not doing anything unique or even unusual in China. England waged two "Opium" wars against China in 1839 and 1856, and forced China to open her ports to foreign trade, cede Hong Kong and tacitly to tolerate the English fueling the drug trade by looking the other way while English merchants smuggled opium into the country. The only significant American presence in China in 1853 was when Commodore Matthew Perry appeared and briefly cruised the coast of China, after having landed in Japan and having forced the Japanese to accept his embassy in Tokyo Bay, rather than at Nagasaki, the port to which foreign trade had been restricted. Perry's act of "showing the flag" on the China coast was probably intended to protect American commercial interests through a display of power, but really, it was not a significant act. Perry was in the far east specifically to force Japan to open its ports and allow trade with the Americans, and by extension with the European powers.

However, seen as a product of the 1848 socialist uprisings and the events which lead up to them, coining the term realpolitik makes much more sense. I rather suspect that whoever made the claim about American policy in China was blowing smoke, and in addition to showing ignorance about the lack of an American policy on China in 1853, was expressing a deeply-held anti-American bias.

You're about a week late there, Sullyfish . . . do you bother to read the dates on the posts?

By the way, it sometimes helps to preview your post before you submit it--the international phonetic alphabet characters don't show up here as they do on the page from which you copied and pasted.