The Hell of Good Intentions The Hell of Good Intentions

The Hell of Good Intentions

America's Foreign Policy Elite and the Decline of U.S. Primacy

    • 4.3 • 6 Ratings
    • $12.99
    • $12.99

Publisher Description

From the New York Times–bestselling author Stephen M. Walt, The Hell of Good Intentions dissects the faults and foibles of recent American foreign policy—explaining why it has been plagued by disasters like the “forever wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan and outlining what can be done to fix it.

In 1992, the United States stood at the pinnacle of world power and Americans were confident that a new era of peace and prosperity was at hand. Twenty-five years later, those hopes have been dashed. 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 U.S. 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 won the presidency promising to end the misguided policies of the foreign policy “Blob” and to pursue a wiser approach. But his erratic and impulsive style of governing, combined with a deeply flawed understanding of world politics, are making 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. This long-overdue shift will require abandoning the futile quest for liberal hegemony and building a foreign policy establishment with a more realistic view of American power.

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.

GENRE
Politics & Current Events
RELEASED
2018
October 16
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
400
Pages
PUBLISHER
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
SELLER
Macmillan
SIZE
4
MB

Customer Reviews

EatSleepHoop21 ,

A 291 page manifesto for Foreign Affairs magazine.

Stephen Walt’s book is surely an audacious undertaking - he aims squarely at the US’ foreign policy establishment. Many of his arguments are strong, but he diminished some of his credibility with a writing style that became redundant and rhetorical. The last chapter on offshore balancing was the best, and it could stand alone in Foreign Affairs without many of the middle chapters.

More Books by Stephen M. Walt

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
2007
Taming American Power: The Global Response to U. S. Primacy Taming American Power: The Global Response to U. S. Primacy
2006
The Origins of Alliances The Origins of Alliances
2013
Revolution and War Revolution and War
2013

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