History Realpolitik / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': The central plot is a SuccessionCrisis between Rhaenyra (the previous king's eldest child by his first wife) and Aegon (said king's firstborn ''son'', much younger than Rhaenyra, from his second wife). Ostensibly this is a conflict about whether or not to uphold HeirClubForMen... except no one actually cares about that. People ''first'' decide who they're going to support out of pragmatic self-interest -- which claimant's ascension would be better for me personally? -- and ''then'' defend the inheritance law that person needs to come to power. People are willing to espouse whichever view about inheritance serves them best at the present moment, switching sides as the situation changes. Otto espoused unisex inheritance when it meant disinheriting an man who was his personal rival, and was later in favor of male-only inheritance when it meant his own grandson becoming king. Daemon was in favor of male-only inheritance when that male heir would've been ''him''; after the birth of his nephew, he favored unisex inheritance to make his wife queen. Alicent and Criston supported Rhaenyra up until interpersonal drama drove them apart. The only character for whom the prospect of a female regnant is actually a serious consideration is Rhaenys -- and even for her, this is merely ''one'' factor out of many when deciding where she stands in this conflict.

--->'''Tywin:''' You don't form alliances with people you trust.

** Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish gives several speeches embodying this perspective. He also practices it, creating alliances between the Tyrells(who had supported a rival claimant Renly Baratheon) and the Lannisters and managing to negotiate for himself a sweet position as Lord of the only region in Westeros that hasn't participated in the war. He gives a NoMoreHoldingBackSpeech to this effect, noting that the Kingdom, the traditions of honor and chivalry, even the Iron Throne are essentially fictitious constructs that embodies the values of order rather than enforces it and the realm actually functions on an elaborate deception.
--> '''Littlefinger''': The realm. Do you know what the realm is? It's the thousand blades of Aegon's enemies, a story we agree to tell each other over and over, until we forget that it's a lie.\\

---> '''Lord Tywin:''' The house that puts family first will always defeat the house that puts the whims and wishes of its sons and daughters first. A good man does everything in his power to better his family's position regardless of his own selfish desires.

---> '''Tywin:''' You don't form alliances with people you trust.
*** On the other hand, while brilliant in politics, Tywin's less pragmatic attitude towards his family and personal affairs is ultimately what leads to his downfall. Interestingly enough, his second term as Hand of the King follows a similar trajectory to Ned Stark's tenure. Even though he's a ruthless and feared administrator with almost no lengths to which he won't go to secure his family's power, he still fails to prevent an assassination of the king, is made into an UnwittingPawn by Littlefinger, agitates an old enemy who has one of his family in their power to the point of conflict, and dies.

* ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': The central plot is a SuccessionCrisis between Rhaenyra (the pervious king's eldest child by his first wife) and Aegon (said king's firstborn ''son'', much younger than Rhaenyra, from his second wife). Ostensibly this is a conflict between the ideologies of absolute primogeniture versus [[HeirClubForMen male-preference primogeniture]]. However, few characters actually care about ideology. The conflict is overwhelmingly approached from the perspective of pragmatic self-interest. ''Which claimant's ascension would benefit me personally?'' Aegon's maternal kin want to see him ascend because that would advance their family. Daemon wants to see Rhaenyra ascend so he can co-rule with her as her husband. Alicent and Criston distrust Rhaenyra on personal grounds. People are willing to espouse whichever view about inheritance serves them best at the present moment, switching sides as the situation changes. Otto was in favor of Rhaenyra being heir when meant disinheriting Daemon, his personal rival, who had been the prior heir. Alicent and Criston supported Rhaenyra up until interpersonal drama drove them apart. The only character for whom the prospect of a female regnant is actually a serious consideration is Rhaenys -- and even for her, this is merely ''one'' factor out of many when deciding where she stands in this conflict.

* In ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', in the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E14WolfInTheFold Wolf in the Fold]]", Kirk explicitly refuses the suggestion that he help Scotty escape the planet on which he had been charged with murder. While he does his best to, and eventually does, get Scotty cleared of murder, Kirk says that he'll allow Scotty to be jailed and executed if he's found guilty -- even if Kirk believes him innocent. Why? Because the planet is a strategically vital port, and helping Scotty escape its justice would sour them against the Federation.
* Characteristic of Romulan foreign policy in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' and beyond. For example, the Klingons and Romulans are old enemies, and so the Romulans are quite happy to provide support to the House of Duras when they rebel against Chancellor Gowron because it means they get to DivideAndConquer the Klingons ''and'' screw over the Klingons' allies the Federation in the bargain.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' treats this trope as the order of the day, with some very underhanded episodes such as "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E16InterArmaEnimSilentLeges Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges]]" and "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E19InThePaleMoonlight In the Pale Moonlight]]". Many of these episodes involve [[NoSuchAgency Section 31]], which [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans does whatever's necessary to protect]] TheFederation.
* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' has Picard angry with Starfleet for refusing to help the Romulans when their star was going nova which killed millions of their people. He does a televised interview on how the Federation betrayed its principles by not helping their long-time enemies. Admiral Clancy then chastises Picard for not grasping how several major Federation members threatened to pull out if they went ahead to aid the Romulans, especially after a synthetic rebellion destroyed much of their fleet.
-->'''Clancy:''' Even before the synthetics attacked Mars, fourteen species within the Federation said "cut the Romulans loose or we'll pull out". It was a choice between letting the Federation implode, and letting the Romulans go.\\

-->'''Jack''': I've heard your reasoning from Walt Cummings. It's still treason.
-->'''Nathanson''': No. It's a realpolitik.

* A friendlier version than most is seen in relations between the Russian Federation and the United States in ''Series/StargateSG1''. The two are officially allies and by later seasons the Russians operate their own SG team under the auspices of Stargate Command. In "Disclosure," though, Col. Chekov notes that part of the reason Russia is willing to take a backseat to America is because that way, the United States foots most of the bill for adapting ImportedAlienPhlebotinum, then Russia can turn around and build from American blueprints for a fraction of the cost.
** In "Crusade", when the Russian Federation briefly supports the People's Republic of China bid for control of the Stargate, Chekov later admits that it was simply a ploy by his government to leverage plans to build their own ''Daedalus-class'' [[CoolStarship battlecruiser]]. While the Russians have long-desired to run the Stargate program, they're content (for now) with the arrangement to simply loan the Gate to the Americans and make them pay through the nose to use it. Both Landry and Chekov admit that their governments would rather maintain the deal than let [[EnemyMine another]] [[BetterTheDevilYouKnow nation]] take control of offworld affairs, ''especially'' not the Chinese.[[note]]For those unfamiliar with world politics, the Russians and Chinese have been regional rivals, though not exactly enemies, since TheFifties.[[/note]]
** In "48 Hours", it's made even more clear by Major Davis, when he coldly tells Colonel Chekov that the U.S. would consider any attempt by another nation to start their own Stargate Program to be an act of war.
* On ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', in the episode "Wolf In the Fold", Kirk explicitly refuses the suggestion that he help Scotty escape the planet on which he had been charged with murder. While he does his best to, and eventually does, get Scotty cleared of murder, Kirk says that he'll allow Scotty to be jailed and executed if he's found guilty -- even if Kirk believes him innocent. Why? Because the planet is a strategically vital port, and helping Scotty escape its justice would sour them against the Federation.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' treats this trope as the order of the day, with some very underhanded episodes such as "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" and "In the Pale Moonlight". Many of these episodes involve [[NoSuchAgency Section 31]], which [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans does whatever's necessary to protect]] TheFederation.

-->'''Clancy''': Even before the synthetics attacked Mars, fourteen species within the Federation said "cut the Romulans loose or we'll pull out". It was a choice between letting the Federation implode, and letting the Romulans go.
-->'''Picard''': The Federation does not get to decide if a species lives or dies.
-->'''Clancy''': Yes, we do. We absolutely do. Thousands of species depend upon us for unity. We didn’t have enough ships left. We had to make choices.