Christian Realism of Reinhold Niebuhr in the Multipolar Geopolitical Crisis of the Twenty-First Century
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59029/int.v5i1.77Keywords:
Christian Realism, Reinhold Niebuhr, Global Political Ethics, Multipolar Geopolitics, Digital GeopoliticsAbstract
This study analyzes Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian Realism as a framework of political ethics for addressing the multipolar geopolitical crisis of the twenty-first century. The study emerges from the limitations of mainstream international relations theories, such as realism, liberalism, constructivism, and critical geopolitics, which have not adequately provided a normative foundation for responding to global conflicts, structural injustice, neoliberalism, and contemporary digital geopolitics. The study employs a qualitative approach based on library research and focuses on theological and hermeneutical analyses of Reinhold Niebuhr’s thought. The researcher collected data through documentation studies and academic literature reviews, while the analysis employed hermeneutical interpretation, interdisciplinary dialogue, and normative synthesis. The primary sources include Niebuhr’s major works, especially Moral Man and Immoral Society and The Nature and Destiny of Man, along with various scholarly works on political theology and contemporary geopolitics. The findings demonstrate that Christian Realism offers a framework of political ethics that realistically acknowledges human sin and egoism while maintaining a normative commitment to justice and moral responsibility in global politics. Christian Realism operates at epistemological, normative, and practical levels in interpreting multipolarity, international conflict, neoliberalism, and global digital domination. The implications of this study indicate that Christian Realism can function as an alternative framework of global political ethics capable of bridging political realism and moral values within the context of contemporary systemic chaos. The originality of this study lies in its effort to reconstruct Christian Realism as a framework of geopolitical ethics that responds contextually to multipolarity and digital geopolitics in the twenty-first century.
References
Alexander, L. E. (2021). Christian Realism and the State as Idol: Feminist and Postcolonial Critique and Christian Realist Theology in an Interdependent World. Political Theology, 22(8), 680–698. https://doi.org/10.1080/1462317X.2021.1893958
Amin, K., Paramitha, D. I., Al Farauqi, M. D. A., & Shalehah, A. (2024). Managing Power Rivalry: Indonesia’s Perspective and Strategy in Managing Relations with China in the Indo-Pacific. In Dynamics in the Indo-Pacific: From Geopolitics and Geoeconomics Perspectives (pp. 73–84).
Belo, D., & Rodríguez, F. (2023). The conflict in Ukraine and its global implications. Canadian Foreign Policy Journal, 29(3), 235–248. https://doi.org/10.1080/11926422.2023.2258227
Darabos, Á. (2023). “A Critical Student of Augustine”–Reinhold Niebuhr’s Interpretation of Augustine. Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem.
Du, X. (2022). A Systematic Review of Neoliberalism and Realism in International Relations. Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, 1, 6–12. https://doi.org/10.54097/ehss.v1i.622
Edwards, M. (2015). Cold War Transgressions: Christian Realism, Conservative Socialism, and the Longer 1960s. Religions, 6(1), 266–285. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel6010266
Finnemore, M., & Wendt, A. (2024). When “Old” Constructivism Was New: Reflections on Classical Constructivism. Perspectives on Politics, 22(4), 1248–1268. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592724001464
Gillin, J. (2024). Sin and Socialism: The Development of Realism in Christian Socialist Thought. Political Theology, 25(8), 863–882. https://doi.org/10.1080/1462317X.2024.2341207
Goyal, P., & Soni, P. (2024). Beyond borders: investigating the impact of the 2023 Israeli–Palestinian conflict on global equity markets. Journal of Economic Studies, 51(8), 1714–1731. https://doi.org/10.1108/JES-12-2023-0729
Hille, P. (2026). Belanja Senjata Global Tembus Rekor, SIPRI: Tren Berlanjut. Deutsche Welle. https://www.dw.com/id/belanja-senjata-global-tembus-rekor-sipri-tren-berlanjut/a-76947016
Hoang, K. L., Tran, H. X., Nguyen, P. H., & Tran, T. D. (2024). Shifting World Order: The Ukraine Conflict and Great Power Competition in Contemporary Geopolitics. In International Relations Dynamics in the 21st Century: Security, Conflicts, and Wars (pp. 127–154). https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-5688-3.ch007
Ikenberry, G. J. (2009). Liberalism in a Realist World. International Studies, 46(1–2), 203–219. https://doi.org/10.1177/002088171004600213
Kiçmari, S. (2024). Theories of International Relations (pp. 65–89). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-3897-7_4
Koopman, S., Dalby, S., Megoran, N., Sharp, J., Kearns, G., Squire, R., Jeffrey, A., Squire, V., & Toal, G. (2021). Critical Geopolitics/critical geopolitics 25 years on. Political Geography, 90, 102421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2021.102421
Kruta, Y. (2025). Navigating Digital Frontiers and Geopolitical Currents: A Descriptive Analytical Review of US–Iran Relations and Middle Eastern Dynamics. MSI Journal of Arts, Law and Justice (MSIJALJ), 2(8), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16959453
Lovin, R. (2020). Reinhold Niebuhr’s Realistic Pluralism. Theology Today, 77(3), 298–309. https://doi.org/10.1177/0040573620947055
Lovin, R. W. (2009). CHRISTIAN REALISM FOR THE TWENTY‐FIRST CENTURY. Journal of Religious Ethics, 37(4), 669–682. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9795.2009.00407.x
Luciani, R. (2020). Francis and the Pastoral Geopolitics of Peoples and Their Cultures: A Structural Option for the Poor. Theological Studies, 81(1), 181–202. https://doi.org/10.1177/0040563920906135
McCann, D. P. (2001). Christian Realism and Liberation Theology: Practical Theologies in Creative Conflict. Wipf and Stock Publishers.
Mearsheimer, J. J. (2019). Bound to Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Liberal International Order. International Security, 43(4), 7–50. https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00342
Moens, A. (2001). Christian Realism: A Normative Tradition for International Politics. International Journal of Politics and Ethics, 1(2), 105–123.
Moore, T. (2020). On the theopolitics of sovereignty: Carl Schmitt and the theopolitics of global orders. Review of International Studies, 46(5), 691–712. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210520000054
Niebuhr, R. (1960). Moral Man and Immoral Society. CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS.
Niebuhr, R. (1996). The Nature and Destiny of Man: A Christian Interpretation. Westminster John Knox Press.
O’Sullivan, L. (2017). REPLY Realism and imagination: a response to Kelly. In Rationality in Politics and its Limits (pp. 38–40). Routledge.
Orford, A. (2021). Regional Orders, Geopolitics, and the Future of International Law. Current Legal Problems, 74(1), 149–194. https://doi.org/10.1093/clp/cuab005
Paipais, V. (2021). Reinhold Niebuhr and the Christian realist pendulum. Journal of International Political Theory, 17(2), 185–202. https://doi.org/10.1177/1755088220979001
Pennaforte, C., & Luigi, R. (2022). The (re) emergency of the BRICS and reordering of power in contemporary geopolitics. The World System in Transition, 131.
Peoples, C. (2024). The Liberal International Ordering of crisis. International Relations, 38(1), 3–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/00471178221128187
Pierre, C. (2024). The nature of wars in World Politics. Paix et Sécurité Internationales-Journal of International Law and International Relations.
Polinder, S. (2024). Towards A New Christian Political Realism. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003462712
Polović, J. (2023). Russia and West: Geopolitical Clash in the Western Balkans. Science, Art and Religion, 2(1--2), 56–67. https://doi.org/10.5005/jp-journals-11005-0043
Puntigliano, A. R. (2021). The geopolitics of the Catholic Church in Latin America. Territory, Politics, Governance, 9(3), 455–470. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2019.1687326
Reus-Smit, C. (2007). International Crises of Legitimacy. International Politics, 44(2–3), 157–174. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.ip.8800182
Rivarola, D. R. (2021). Political Training in Four Generations of Activists in Argentina and Brazil. Brazilian Political Science Review, 15(2), e0001. https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-3821202100020001
Simmons, J. A., & Carnahan, K. (2019). When Liberalism Is Not Enough: Political Theology after Reinhold Niebuhr and Emmanuel Levinas. Religions, 10(7), 439. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10070439
UNHCR. (2025). Jumlah Orang yang Terusir Akibat Perang Mencapai Tingkat Mengejutkan, Tertinggi dalam Dekade. UNHCR. https://www.unhcr.org/id/berita/siaran-pers/jumlah-orang-yang-terusir-akibat-perang-mencapai-tingkat-mengejutkan-tertinggi
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 R. F. Bhanu Viktorahadi, Martha Gabriela Hernández
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
You are free to:
Share - copy, and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
This license is acceptable for Free Cultural Works - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
