Prudence

Prudence is a form of practical knowledge. In the conduct of foreign policy it is the careful and deliberate management of power resources in the context of uncertainty about both the power and intentions of other actors, and is a core tenet of realist International Relations theory. It is particularly associated with classical realists such as Carr and Morgenthau, but is commonly used by policymakers across the political spectrum. It has a long history in the Western political canon, from Aristotle and the ancient Greek idea of phronesis through Machiavelli, Hobbes and Kant. Prudence, however, can mean different things to different people. It can mean either practical (moral) reasoning about what constitutes the virtuous, or calculation (amoral reasoning) about how to efficiently achieve desired ends. It can be interpreted as a bias towards restraint and precaution, or as a call for deliberation, as prescription for or description of policy.