Edward Hallett Carr: Historical Realism and the Liberal Tradition

Authors

  • David Freeland Duke

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21971/P7RG67

Abstract

The works of Edward Hallett Carr represent an important contribution to the historiography of Soviet Russia and to the study of international relations in general. Yet his work is often dismissed, primarily because Carr was considered 'ideologically unsound,' that is, a Stalinist. This essay examines the validity of that charge and concludes instead that Carr was in fact firmly realistic in his writings on the Soviet Union and on international relations. In the case of the Soviet Union, this paper argues that Carr's realism produced works of balance and judgement in a period - the Cold War- when such characteristics were anathema to the historiography of the subject. In at least one of his works on international relations, The Twenty Years' Crisis, this realism represented a novel and revolutionary approach to the the subject.

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Author Biography

David Freeland Duke

David Freeland Duke is a PhD candidate in the Department of History at the University of Alberta. His major area of research is Soviet political history, and his dissertation is entitled "The Men around Stalin: Soviet Government, 1945-1953." Mr. Duke has presented a paper on Soviet politics and government to the Riding Mountain History Colloquium in Manitoba, and in the past has been the recipient of the Winston Churchill Scholarship History, the P.E. Trudeau Prize in Canadian History, the S.W. Field Scholarship in Canadian History , and a Province of Alberta Graduate Fellowship. His other research interests include Canadian-Soviet relations in the interwar period, and postwar Soviet naval developments.

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Published

2008-02-19

How to Cite

Freeland Duke, D. (2008). Edward Hallett Carr: Historical Realism and the Liberal Tradition. Past Imperfect, 2. https://doi.org/10.21971/P7RG67

Issue

Section

Articles