Michael Oakeshott's political philosophy of International Relations: civil association and international society

摘要

'In political activity, then, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea: there is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place nor appointed destination. The enterprise is to keep afloat on an even keel; the sea is both friend and enemy: and the seamanship consists in using the resources of a traditional manner of behaviour in order to make a friend of every hostile occasion.' Thus Michael Oakeshott's famous and compelling extended poetic metaphor describes the scope and substance of political activity (Rationalism in politics and other essays, p. 127). And it applies to the state's international journey as much as it does to the scope and substance of domestic political activity.