ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents Reinhold Niebuhr's political thought in ways that can contribute to contemporary international political theory and in that sense it does not pretend to be a merely descriptive account of his thinking and context. It introduces Niebuhr's international relations (IR) theory as grounded in his vision of the world community. The book focuses on how Niebuhr's life path and social concerns are reflected in his work and in what can at the end be presented as a very distinct and influential branch of the realist tradition – Christian realism. It develops a more comprehensive account of Niebuhrian realism, deeply influenced as it was by the writings of Augustine and the Christian tradition more generally. The chapter approaches the theme of power as a central tenet of Niebuhr's political thought, of the realist tradition and hence of IR scholarship more broadly.
