The Great Delusion

The Great Delusion
Author: John J. Mearsheimer
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2018-01-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0300234198

A major theoretical statement by a distinguished political scholar explains why a policy of liberal hegemony is doomed to fail It is widely believed in the West that the United States should spread liberal democracy across the world, foster an open international economy, and build international institutions. The policy of remaking the world in America's image is supposed to protect human rights, promote peace, and make the world safe for democracy. But this is not what has happened. Instead, the United States has become a highly militarized state fighting wars that undermine peace, harm human rights, and threaten liberal values at home. In this major statement, the renowned international-relations scholar John Mearsheimer argues that liberal hegemony--the foreign policy pursued by the United States since the Cold War ended--is doomed to fail. It makes far more sense, he maintains, for Washington to adopt a more restrained foreign policy based on a sound understanding of how nationalism and realism constrain great powers abroad. The Great Delusion is a lucid and compelling work of the first importance for scholars, policymakers, and everyone interested in the future of American foreign policy.

Why Leaders Lie

Why Leaders Lie
Author: John J. Mearsheimer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 155
Release: 2013
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0199975450

Presents an analysis of the lying behavior of political leaders, discussing the reasons why it occurs, the different types of lies, and the costs and benefits to the public and other countries that result from it, with examples from the recent past.

The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (Updated Edition)

The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (Updated Edition)
Author: John J. Mearsheimer
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 572
Release: 2003-01-17
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0393076245

"A superb book.…Mearsheimer has made a significant contribution to our understanding of the behavior of great powers."—Barry R. Posen, The National Interest The updated edition of this classic treatise on the behavior of great powers takes a penetrating look at the question likely to dominate international relations in the twenty-first century: Can China rise peacefully? In clear, eloquent prose, John Mearsheimer explains why the answer is no: a rising China will seek to dominate Asia, while the United States, determined to remain the world's sole regional hegemon, will go to great lengths to prevent that from happening. The tragedy of great power politics is inescapable.

Summary of John J. Mearsheimer's The Great Delusion

Summary of John J. Mearsheimer's The Great Delusion
Author: Everest Media,
Publisher: Everest Media LLC
Total Pages: 49
Release: 2022-04-09T22:59:00Z
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 166938392X

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The idea of liberal hegemony is that a state aims to turn as many countries as possible into liberal democracies, while also promoting an open international economy and building international institutions. However, this is rarely realistic. #2 The liberal state is constantly trying to spread democracy around the world, but this also leads to illiberalism at home. The liberal state will not achieve its goals, and its failure will inevitably come with huge costs. #3 The structure of the international system is anarchic, not hierarchic, which means that liberalism cannot work in international politics. Countries thus have little choice but to act according to balance-of-power logic if they hope to survive. #4 The American foreign policy establishment embraced the mission of spreading liberalism around the world. They believed that this would eventually bring an end to balance-of-power politics, and they thought that people would become bored with it all.

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
Author: John J. Mearsheimer
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 651
Release: 2007-09-04
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1429932821

Originally published in 2007, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, by John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen M. Walt of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, provoked both howls of outrage and cheers of gratitude for challenging what had been a taboo issue in America: the impact of the Israel lobby on U.S. foreign policy. A work of major importance, it remains as relevant today as it was in the immediate aftermath of the Israel-Lebanon war of 2006. Mearsheimer and Walt describe in clear and bold terms the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the United States provides to Israel and argues that this support cannot be fully explained on either strategic or moral grounds. This exceptional relationship is due largely to the political influence of a loose coalition of individuals and organizations that actively work to shape U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction. They provocatively contend that the lobby has a far-reaching impact on America's posture throughout the Middle East―in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict―and the policies it has encouraged are in neither America's national interest nor Israel's long-term interest. The lobby's influence also affects America's relationship with important allies and increases dangers that all states face from global jihadist terror. The publication of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy led to a sea change in how the U.S-Israel relationship was discussed, and continues to be one of the most talked-about books in foreign policy.

The Return of Marco Polo's World

The Return of Marco Polo's World
Author: Robert D. Kaplan
Publisher:
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2018
Genre: History
ISBN: 0812996798

"Drawing on decades of first-hand experience as a foreign correspondent and military embed for The Atlantic, Robert D. Kaplan makes a powerful, clear-eyed case for what timeless principles should shape America's role in the world: a respect for the limits of Western-style democracy; a delineation between American interests versus American values; an awareness of the psychological toll of warfare; a projection of military power via a strong navy; and more"--

How to Hide an Empire

How to Hide an Empire
Author: Daniel Immerwahr
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 382
Release: 2019-02-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 0374715122

Named one of the ten best books of the year by the Chicago Tribune A Publishers Weekly best book of 2019 | A 2019 NPR Staff Pick A pathbreaking history of the United States’ overseas possessions and the true meaning of its empire We are familiar with maps that outline all fifty states. And we are also familiar with the idea that the United States is an “empire,” exercising power around the world. But what about the actual territories—the islands, atolls, and archipelagos—this country has governed and inhabited? In How to Hide an Empire, Daniel Immerwahr tells the fascinating story of the United States outside the United States. In crackling, fast-paced prose, he reveals forgotten episodes that cast American history in a new light. We travel to the Guano Islands, where prospectors collected one of the nineteenth century’s most valuable commodities, and the Philippines, site of the most destructive event on U.S. soil. In Puerto Rico, Immerwahr shows how U.S. doctors conducted grisly experiments they would never have conducted on the mainland and charts the emergence of independence fighters who would shoot up the U.S. Congress. In the years after World War II, Immerwahr notes, the United States moved away from colonialism. Instead, it put innovations in electronics, transportation, and culture to use, devising a new sort of influence that did not require the control of colonies. Rich with absorbing vignettes, full of surprises, and driven by an original conception of what empire and globalization mean today, How to Hide an Empire is a major and compulsively readable work of history.

The Hell of Good Intentions

The Hell of Good Intentions
Author: Stephen M. Walt
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2018-10-16
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0374712468

A provocative analysis of recent American foreign policy and why it has been plagued by disasters like the “forever wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead of a long hoped-for era of peace and prosperity, relations with Russia and China have soured, the European Union is wobbling, nationalism and populism are on the rise, and the United States is stuck in costly and pointless wars that have squandered trillions of dollars and undermined its influence around the world. The root of this dismal record, Walt argues, is the American foreign policy establishment’s stubborn commitment to a strategy of “liberal hegemony.” Since the end of the Cold War, Republicans and Democrats alike have tried to use US power to spread democracy, open markets, and other liberal values into every nook and cranny of the planet. This strategy was doomed to fail, but its proponents in the foreign policy elite were never held accountable and kept repeating the same mistakes. Donald Trump’s erratic and impulsive style of governing, combined with a deeply flawed understanding of world politics, made a bad situation worse. The best alternative, Walt argues, is a return to the realist strategy of “offshore balancing,” which eschews regime change, nation-building, and other forms of global social engineering. The American people would surely welcome a more restrained foreign policy, one that allowed greater attention to problems here at home. Clear-eyed, candid, and elegantly written, Stephen M. Walt’s The Hell of Good Intentions offers both a compelling diagnosis of America’s recent foreign policy follies and a proven formula for renewed success. “Thought-provoking . . . This excellent analysis is cogent, accessible, and well-argued.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

US Grand Strategy in the 21st Century

US Grand Strategy in the 21st Century
Author: A. Trevor Thrall
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 411
Release: 2018-01-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 1351620037

This book challenges the dominant strategic culture and makes the case for restraint in US grand strategy in the 21st century. Grand strategy, meaning a state’s theory about how it can achieve national security for itself, is elusive. That is particularly true in the United States, where the division of federal power and the lack of direct security threats limit consensus about how to manage danger. This book seeks to spur more vigorous debate on US grand strategy. To do so, the first half of the volume assembles the most recent academic critiques of primacy, the dominant strategic perspective in the United States today. The contributors challenge the notion that US national security requires a massive military, huge defense spending, and frequent military intervention around the world. The second half of the volume makes the positive case for a more restrained foreign policy by excavating the historical roots of restraint in the United States and illustrating how restraint might work in practice in the Middle East and elsewhere. The volume concludes with assessments of the political viability of foreign policy restraint in the United States today. This book will be of much interest to students of US foreign policy, grand strategy, national security, and International Relations in general.

The False Promise of Liberal Order

The False Promise of Liberal Order
Author: Patrick Porter
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2020-05-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1509542132

In an age of demagogues, hostile great powers and trade wars, foreign policy traditionalists dream of restoring liberal international order. This order, they claim, ushered in seventy years of peace and prosperity and saw post-war America domesticate the world to its values. The False Promise of Liberal Order exposes the flaws in this nostalgic vision. The world shaped by America came about as a result of coercion and, sometimes brutal, compromise. Liberal projects – to spread capitalist democracy – led inadvertently to illiberal results. To make peace, America made bargains with authoritarian forces. Even in the Pax Americana, the gentlest order yet, ordering was rough work. As its power grew, Washington came to believe that its order was exceptional and even permanent – a mentality that has led to spiralling deficits, permanent war and Trump. Romanticizing the liberal order makes it harder to adjust to today’s global disorder. Only by confronting the false promise of liberal order and adapting to current realities can the United States survive as a constitutional republic in a plural world.