Category: International Relations

December 20, 2011

Richard Betts on How Defense Cuts Might Affect American Force

“I think we overestimate our soft power. Americans understandably like to think of themselves as a model for the world, as a society that other societies want to be like. To some extent, this is true, but we tend to...

December 19, 2011

Richard Betts on American Force

This week will be featuring American Force: Dangers, Delusions, and Dilemmas in National Security, by Richard Betts. In the book, Betts takes a skeptical look at the use of American force in the postwar era and analyzes, sometimes critically, the...

November 28, 2011

Steven Pinker Chooses Why Civil Resistance Works as a Best Book of 2011

The Guardian recently posted its list of the Best Books of 2011 as selected by such notable figures as AS Byatt, Jonathan Franzen, Eric Hobsbawm, Hari Kunzru, Hanif Kureishi, David Lodge Colm Tóibín, David Hare, and Jeanette Winterson. The Guardian...

November 22, 2011

Fred Ikle (1924-2011)

We were sad to learn that Fred Ikle, author of Annihilation from Within: The Ultimate Threat to Nations and Every War Must End, passed away earlier this month. Fred Ikle was undersecretary of Defense during Reagan’s second term and before...

October 3, 2011

Intelligence and U.S. Foreign Policy by Paul Pillar Reviewed in the New York Times

Writing for the New York Times Book Review, Thomas Powers calls Intelligence and U.S. Foreign Policy: Iraq, 9/11, and Misguided Reform, by Paul Pillar, a “rich, useful and important book.” Paul Pillar’s examination of the politicization of intelligence, particularly by...

September 16, 2011

Paul Pillar on Iran

Paul Pillar’s recently published Intelligence and U.S. Foreign Policy: Iraq, 9/11, and Misguided Reform explores some of the missteps in reorganizing intelligence in the wake of al-Qaeda attacks. One of the most crucial challenges facing U.S. intelligence and foreign policy...

September 15, 2011

Paull Pillar on the Legacy of Propaganda and the Iraq War

“When an administration sets out to manipulate truth and falsehood as shamelessly as the promoters of the Iraq War did, the damage is not limited only to adoption of whatever policies the manipulators are promoting. The substantial lingering misconceptions among...

September 14, 2011

Paul Pillar Challenges Conventional Wisdom on Intelligence Failures

As mentioned in previous posts, in his new book Intelligence and U.S. Foreign Policy: Iraq, 9/11, and Misguided Reform, Paul Pillar confronts the intelligence myths Americans have come to rely on to explain national tragedies, including the belief that intelligence...

July 1, 2011

Adam McKeown on immigration

The following is an essay by Adam McKeown, author of Melancholy Order: Asian Migration and the Globalization of Borders. Immigration law is the last and most unrepentant bastion of discrimination in the modern world. Among the causes for discrimination are...

March 15, 2011

New Book Tuesday: Religion and International Theory

Just one new book this week: Religion and International Relations Theory Edited by Jack Snyder Includes contributions by Jack Snyder, Timothy Samuel Shah, Daniel Philpott, Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, Michael Barnett, Monica Duffy Toft, Daniel H. Nexon, Il Hyun Cho, J....

March 3, 2011

Grzegorz W. Kolodko: New Pragmatism versus Failing Neoliberalism

“The source of the current global economic crisis lies in the failure of America’s neoliberal capitalism.”—Grzegorz W. Kolodko The following essay is from Grzegorz W. Kolodko, the author of Truth, Errors, and Lies: Politics and Economics in a Volatile World....

February 9, 2011

David Kang on Asian International Relations Past and Present

Recently David Kang, author of East Asia Before the West: Five Centuries of Trade and Tribute, has written about relations between Asian both as it developed from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries and the current situation between China and...