Recently, realists have argued that political realism rests on the metanormative thesis that the sources of political normativity are independent from the sources of moral normativity or, in other words, that the value of political goods does not derive from the value of moral goods. In this paper, I aim to cast doubt on this idea. Indeed, I argue that political goods only have instrumental value, that is, they have value because they increase the likelihood that morally good state of affairs will be produced. In order to do this, I first define political realism by carefully distinguishing it from non-ideal theory. Next, I argue that political goods such as freedom, equality and stability only have an instrumental value and that they do not constitute an independent source of normativity. Finally, I provide some grounds for thinking that my argument does not threaten non-ideal theory, but only political realism.
