Matt Kibbe sits down with Will Ruger, president of the American Institute for Economic Research, to discuss the theory of foreign policy realism and how we can apply it to international conflicts like the war in Ukraine. Contrary to what critics claim, realists are not isolationists. They recognize a role for the American military on the world stage. But at the same time, they think that involvement should be restrained and always focused on America’s clear national security interests. By contrast, the neoconservative approach imagines that the United States has a duty to order the world as the U.S. government sees fit, engaging in nation-building and taking sides in every conflict around the globe.