E.H. Carr's "The Twenty Years Crisis, Chapters 4 and 5"

Read these chapters. Carr attacks the international idealist position, which he describes as "utopianism," challenging its claim to moral universalism and its idea of a harmony of interests. He characterizes this position as encompassing faith in reason, confidence in progress, and a sense of moral rectitude. According to the idealists, war is an aberration in the course of normal life and the way to prevent it is to educate people for peace and to build systems of collective security, such as the League of Nations or today's United Nations.