Where power is grossly unequal, appeals to justice carry no weight and the strong do what they can.
Thucydides recorded it around 411 BC. The Athenians offered no moral argument and made none necessary. It is the founding text of realist international relations, and older than the Thucydides Trap named for him.
In practice
- A tenant on a month's notice raises a repair, and the landlord's answer turns on how quickly the flat would re-let rather than on the merits.
- A supplier negotiating with a customer that represents 70% of its revenue discovers that the merits of its case are not the operative variable.
- Standing
- The founding text of realist international relations, and older than the Thucydides Trap named for him.
- Subject
- Law & Politics
- Essay
- Competing accounts of how power works