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Does Might Make Right?

It's a famous phrase, and one that has recently been given new prominence in political analysis: 'Might makes right.' According to some commentators, it is the official political philosophy -- at least in international relations -- of the second Trump administration. According to others, it is the correct political philosophy of international relations as such. But what does this phrase mean, and how does it function? I argue that there are interpretations of the phrase that make it a descriptive truths about the world -- or at least a possible understanding of the world -- but that these interpretations have no normative impact. They don't tell us what to do. Only when we understand the phrase as an invitation to drop morality and embrace thuggery does it become a normative principle. But as a normative principle, it lacks all obviousness. Why would we have to become thugs? Only a resentful and incoherent analysis of ourselves as simultaneously strong and weak seems to force us to embrace it; but of course we are not obligated to accept such an incoherent analysis.