For realists, political theories exhibit an anti-moralist character when their normativity stems from an appraisal of the value and the specificities of real political practices. While realists agree on such a characterisation of the realist project, they split when it comes to explaining to what extent realist political normativity can provide us with a critical perspective on the status quo. The most recent contributions on this topic are polarised. Some contributors interpret political realism as an approach to politics that leads to an affirmation of the status quo. Others suggest that political realism might lead to radical transformations of the status quo. In this paper, I argue that it is possible to identify a consistent middle ground between these alternative interpretations: the interpretation of political realism as a form of reformist conservatism. Moreover, I defend the reformist-conservative interpretation of political realism as superior to the extant ones. Contrary to the rival interpretations, I show that the reformist-conservative interpretation consistently reconciles all the fundamental tenets of political realism. Furthermore, I explain that while the conservatist interpretation risks undermining the normative commitment of realism and the radical interpretation leans towards an irresponsible form of political theorising, the reformist-conservative reading avoids these pitfalls.

中文翻译：

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作为改良主义保守主义的政治现实主义

对于现实主义者来说，当政治理论的规范性源于对真实政治实践的价值和特殊性的评估时，它们就表现出反道德主义的特征。虽然现实主义者同意对现实主义项目的这种描述，但在解释现实主义政治规范性在多大程度上可以为我们提供对现状的批判性观点时，他们存在分歧。关于这个主题的最新贡献是两极分化的。一些贡献者将政治现实主义解释为一种导致对现状的肯定的政治方法。其他人则认为，政治现实主义可能会导致现状的根本转变。在本文中，我认为有可能在这些替代解释之间确定一个一致的中间立场：将政治现实主义解释为一种改良主义保守主义。此外，我捍卫对政治现实主义的改良主义保守解释优于现存的解释。与对立的解释相反，我表明改良主义-保守主义的解释始终调和政治现实主义的所有基本原则。此外，我解释说，虽然保守主义的解释有可能破坏现实主义的规范承诺，而激进的解释倾向于一种不负责任的政治理论形式，但改良主义-保守主义的解读避免了这些陷阱。