Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by David Brady, Jr.
“Raimondo spent much of his time polemicizing on the latest intervention abroad, but, in 2011, he wrote two articles ‘Why Governments Make War’ and ‘Looking at the Big Picture’ wherein he articulates his theory of libertarian realism. He juxtaposes his theory with traditional realism, that emphasizes the supposed interests of broad states, liberalism, which promises perpetual peace in the tradition of Immanuel Kant, and Marxism, which sees all conflicts as products of the capitalist class structure. Libertarian realism looks to domestic political pressures and influences to inform it on the reason why a state’s foreign policy looks the way it does. If Nobel Prize winner James Buchanan characterized his public choice theory as ‘politics without romance,’ then Raimondo’s realism is international relations without romance.” (11/23/25)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/foreign-policy-justin-raimondo-style