The Primacy of Domestic Politics
Eckart Kehr and the Intellectual Development of Charles A. Beard
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4496671 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Arthur Lloyd Skop (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1974 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 119 |
| Publication date | 1974-05-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History and Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-2656 • E-ISSN: 1468-2303 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2504855 |
| OpenAlex | W2326311528 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
In 1931 Eckart Kehr published his famous doctoral dissertation, Schlachtflottenbau und Parteipolitik famous, however, only in retrospect. Although it enjoys a high reputation among some contemporary American historians and younger German scholars, Kehr's bold reversal of the hallowed Rankean and Bismarckian idea (and moral conviction) of the primacy of foreign policy in the life of the state, far from starting a revolution, had mixed reviews and only slight contemporary impact on the conservative consensus of the German historical profession.' The faith of German historicism, such it was despite its claims to science and objectivity, was in its essentials readily grasped, consistently applied, and passionately defended by several generations of historians. Although first formulated by Ranke, its fundamental doctrines had their source in Herder's repudiation of cosmopolitanism and his glorification of the Volk in the late eighteenth century. Its first article of faith was the veritable deification of the state as the link between the divine idea and human reality in history.2 This state was no mere utilitarian instrument under human control human betterment and/or subjugation.3 It led its own reified existence, pursued its own best interests through its human agents, and competed with other states its place in the sun according to a hidden providence. German historicism justified wars as the occasion the highest test of a nation's moral fiber and unique idea. It saw progress not as a universal category but as a function of the emergence of new and vital states, especially Germany in the nineteenth century. It convinced itself that the key to the internal conditions of national life was for the most part contained in external relationships4 and that the
Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · European history and politics · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy, History, and Historiography · Psychology · Religious studies
| Citations per year | 0.12 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1977 - 2020 (44) |
| Highly cited | No |