Max Weber and the Problematic Issue of Confidentiality in International Politics

Abstract

What are the reasons that lead Max Weber to be a convinced promoter of publicity in the practices of internal politics and, by contrast, advocate secret procedures in international affairs? The analysis aims at clarifying the different arguments utilised by Weber for justifying his apparently contrasting points of view and explains the reasonable motivations that are adduced to legitimate both issues. Since admitting confidential practices does not mean the acceptance of arbitrariness and bare demonstrations of power, it also highlights how Weber accompanies his considerations on the opportunity of the use of confidentiality with the determination of corresponding criteria that have to regulate and circumscribe its use. The present analysis is completed with a comparison with the positions formulated respectively by Immanuel Kant and Jürgen Habermas, who both plead for a public course of politics to be also applied in international affairs and, as a consequence, explicitly reject confidentiality as a legitimate form of dealing with political issues. Finally, it faces the question whether and in which form Weber’s standpoint contrasts with their positions and what are the reasons motivating his different assessments.

Keywords

• max weber
• confidentiality
• publicity
• diplomacy
• immanuel kant
• jürgen habermas