Smashing the state gently: Radical realism and realist anarchism

Abstract

The revival of realism in political theory has included efforts to challenge realism’s conservative reputation and argue that radical forms are possible. Nonetheless these efforts have been criticised as insufficient to overcome realism’s inherent conservatism. This article argues that radical forms of realism can be better appreciated by considering the application of the realist perspective within an existing radical ideology: anarchism. This may seem an unusual choice, considering anarchism’s standard representation as naïvely idealistic and paradigmatically non-realist. However, attention to the breadth of diversity in anarchist theory reveals a collection of positions that together represent a ‘realist anarchism’ which not only challenges anarchism’s reputation as uniformly committed to unrealistic and idealistic utopianism but also demonstrates the existence of genuinely radical forms of realism.

Being realistic and demanding the impossible

“…For instance, in recent works we read that realism can lead to a "collapsing of the space for serious challenges to major social and political institutions (Markell, 2010, p. 176), that "the closer political theorists are to politics the more their own judgment and frailties will be tested" (Philp, 2012, p. 646), and that "realism will inevitably tend to nudge us towards a greater acceptance of the status quo, towards more modesty in the change that we are prepared to propose or demand" (Finlayson, 2017, p. 271). In this article I resist those claims, and contribute to the project of reclaiming the radical potential of political realism (Brinn, 2019;Cross, 2019;Honig & Stears, 2011;McKean, 2016;McQueen, 2016;Prinz, 2016;Raekstad, 2016;Prinz & Rossi, 2017). I develop a form of realism as genealogy-both debunking and vindicatory-and show how it can be more radical than both ideal and nonideal approaches to normative political theory.…”

Global political legitimacy and the structural power of capital

“…Radical realism is a particular interpretation of what counts as essential facts about politics and how to address, evaluate, and critique political phenomena (Brinn, 2020; Cross, 2021b; Rossi, 2019, pp. 642–644).…”

How radical is radical realism?

“…Radical realists think that liberal political institutions are not merely imperfect, but fundamentally flawed (Duff, 2017; Finlayson, 2017; Geuss, 2005; Prinz, 2016). Many radical realists explicitly defend some form of Marxism or anarchism, or both (Brinn, 2020; Finlayson, 2016; Raekstad, 2018b; Rossi, 2019). However, critical discussions of radical realism—such that there are—have tended to present radical realists, and Geuss in particular, as pessimistic accepters of existing hegemonic power structures.…”