Ethical Realism: A Vision for America's Role in the World

by John Hulsman and Anatol Lieven

Book Overview

America today faces a world more complicated than ever before, but both political parties have failed to envision a foreign policy that addresses our greatest threats. As a result, the United States risks lurching from crisis to crisis. InEthical Realism, Anatol Lieven and John Hulsman, two distinguished policy experts from different political camps, have joined forces to write an impassioned manifesto that illuminates a new way forward. Rather than...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375424458
• ISBN13: 9780375424458
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Length: 199 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.9" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

PTibbits review of Ethical Realism

I was very impressed with this book. It took a liberal and conservative expert and found those concepts they could agree on. They present a review of the foreign policies that succeded and those that failed since WWII. They then present a view of how we should proceed in the future and concepts we should keep in mind as we try to determine how to react to events that occur. Although I did not agree with everything they said, I found their reasoning sound and it gave me a lot to think about. I would reccomend this book to anyone who is interested in foreign policy, especially the candidated for president.

A Good Start to a New World

Besides the WMD fiasco, the United States entered the war with Iraq holding several misconceptions. Perhaps the biggest was that the people of Iraq would be ready to assume the benefits and the duties of democracy. Instead we have opened up old wounds that even now are increasing the level of violence. It's clear that our preconceptions were wrong. In this book, the authors examine the old ideas and have created a new strategic vision: 'ethical realism.' They point out that states all have the right to protect their own citizens and have their own national interests and further that these interests have to be defined by the contries themselves, not by Washington. Their overall answer is for an increase in capitalism in the world, not worrying about the type of government that other countries have. They then have hopes that democracy would follow. This is not unlike the direction that China seems to be taking. I see two or three points that the authors seem to have ignored. NGO's. The views presented in the book are designed to work with the Westphalian system of states. Al Qaeda is not a state, yet seems to be holding an increasing smount of power in the real world. Basic fundamental hatreds. The Sunni and Shiite split in the Muslim faith seems to have at least the potential to deal a death blow to states that otherwise may be trying to move forward. Evil States. The authors seem to have forgotten that Germany and Japan tried at one time to conquer the whole. How do you handle this, especially if they do indeed have WMD's? This is an important book because it is neither too left or too right. I think it is a little incomplete, but the discussion has to start somewhere.

An excellent book!

I bought this book after seeing the authors in a panel discussion on CSPAN. I was impressed with their insights and spirited defense of their point of view, and the book adds depth and detail to their thesis. It's unusual for two people from opposite poles of the political spectrum to come together on policy - but they do here, and we can learn a lot from them. This book should provoke a much-needed debate on recent U.S. foreign policy failures - and how we can avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

Hope and History in 200 Pages

Messrs. Hulsman and Lieven have delivered a learned and principled gem for readers seeking an alternative to the reigning U.S. foreign policy of throwing hundreds of lives and billions of dollars down a wishing well vaguely dedicated to democracy. Ethical Realism is a lantern out of the morass, a book that offers a readable, sensible and practical vision to combat the international ills of today and shape tomorrow's solutions. The authors present a foreign policy prescription grounded in history and ethics rather than ego or vendetta. The book's strength comes from its completeness, giving lessons from the past with applications for the future and a commonsense theory accompanied by realistic action. Clear writing highlights their clear thinking and the straightforward style is a refreshing change from numerous policy tomes that cloak threadbare ideas in overdressed prose. Hulsman and Lieven themselves differ in their political affiliations and open the book by tracing the history of the Truman-Eisenhower moment when opposing parties shared a foreign policy that led to the containment of the Soviet Union and ultimately, the defeat of Communism and America's rise to the world's dominant power. The authors cogently discuss the pitfalls of the preventive war, the likes of which have led to an American death toll in Iraq rivaling that of 9/11 while the ostensible raison de guerre, Osama bin Laden, is watching Love Boat reruns in Balukastan. They also explore the so-called thinking - from neoconservatives on the right and liberal hawks on the left - that paved the way into Iraq without mapping a way out. The authors' bipartisan voice and broad-reaching scholarship will appeal to Democrats, Republicans, and those fed up with both parties. Bad decisions have flowed from good intentions. As America tries to remain the city on the hill, Hulsman and Lieven draw attention to its foundations that risk erosion along with its diplomatic and political capital. One of the book's important achievements is the much-needed and overdue restoration of an ethical character to realism, empowering readers who believe trying to save the world is immoral when it costs the country its soldiers, wealth and allies. Realism has often been cut from the debate of what is the "right" thing to do on the suspicion its proponents are self-interested cynics, thereby ceding decisions on foreign engagement to utopians who write better poetry than history. Hulsman and Lieven revisit the teachings of Hans Morgenthau, Reinhold Niebuhr, and others to revive realism and imbue it with the admirable virtues of prudence, patriotism, responsibility, study, and humility. Ethical Realism cautions against the imperial aspirations that can yield raw power in the short term, but is won at the expense of America's values, institutions and legacy. It calls instead for a Great Capitalist Peace, for America to retain, not squander, its military and economic strength and to serve as an ordering,

A Real Foreign Policy Alternative

George W. Bush has made a hash of American foreign policy, but alternative visions seem in short supply. Anatol Lieven and John Hulsman offer a glimmer of hope, proposing a philosophy of "ethical realism." They suggest several sensible preconditions for a successful foreign policy, preconditions completely lacking in the administration's philosophy of neoconservative imperialism. One is prudence, which was sadly absent at almost every stage of the Iraq disaster. Another requirement is "national humility, and the tolerance and patience that stem from it." We haven't seen much of that over the last five years. The authors also cite the willingness to study and learn. Moreover, write Lieven and Hulsman, "neither in statecraft nor in common sense can good intentions be a valid excuse if--as in the decision to go to war in Iraq--they are accompanied by gross recklessness, carelessness, and indifference to the range of possible consequences." Finally, the authors suggest patriotism, in contrast to mindless, destructive nationalism. These principles are good starting point for any foreign policy. Ethical Realism is a refreshing read, an inciteful analysis that simultaneously critiques the mess that passes for American foreign policy today and offers a solid alternative. Anyone hoping for a real foreign policy debate should buy this book.