Golovanova Natalia
The article is devoted to Reinhold Niebuhr's concept of "Christian realism". According to him, individuals are morally capable to consider interests of others and act prudently when they feel the contradiction between their own interests and other people’s interests. For Niebuhr, it is an explanation of the fact that dominant groups rarely yield their privileges, except the case when they found themselves under pressure of some countervailing social force. Niebuhr stressed the relevance of Christian love not as directly practicable political principle, but as the ideal toward which justice strives, and as the standard of judgment of all political achievements in history.
Keywords: political realism, morality, pacifism, intra- and inter-group conflicts.