realpolitik

Alternative forms

• Realpolitik

Etymology

Borrowed from German Realpolitik (literally “real politics”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɹeɪˈɑːlpɒlɪˌtiːk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɹeɪˈɑlpoʊlɪˌtik/, /ɹiˈɑlpoʊlɪˌtik/
• Rhymes: -iːk

Noun

realpolitik (countable and uncountable, plural realpolitiks)

1. (politics) Pragmatic government policy concerned with perceived interests of the state
   • 2013 August 14, Simon Jenkins, “Gibraltar and the Falklands deny the logic of history”, in The Guardian‎:

     Twenty-first century nation states will no longer tolerate even the mild humiliation of hosting the detritus of 18th- and 19th-century empires. Most European empires were born of the realpolitik of power, mostly the treaties of Utrecht (1713) and Paris (1763). The same realpolitik now ordains their dismantling. An early purpose of the United Nations was to bring this about.

   Synonyms: Machiavellianism, pragmatism