Is it like a specific approach to doing politics, and how is it supposed to contrast with other aspects of politics?
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Realpolitik is the idea of saying or doing whatever is necessary to accomplish your political goals, regardless of morality or decency. If you ever do the right thing, it is because that advances your strategy, nothing more.
Since you have no other priorities, this theoretically makes you the most powerful politician in whatever arena you are in. The thinking goes is that since people that engage in realpolitik have a competitive edge against non-realpolitik politicians, that the most powerful political elite MUST be employing it because they’d have beaten anyone who wasn’t.
Note that realpolitik is not necessarily EVIL; often it is used to benefit one’s political base. But because of its pragmatic and amoral nature, it absolutely can and does lead to evil deeds being done.
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