April 22, 2021 12 - 1 PM EDT
The Stupidity of War: American Foreign Policy and the Case for Complacency
(Cambridge University Press, 2021)
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In The Stupidity of War: American Foreign Policy and the Case for Complacency (Cambridge University Press), John Mueller argues that aversion to international war has had considerable consequences. American foreign policy has been dictated mostly by international threats that have been substantially exaggerated, including during the Cold War. Post‐9/11 concerns about international terrorism and nuclear proliferation have been overwrought and often destructive. Meanwhile, threats from countries including Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea or from cyber technology are limited and manageable. Mueller explains how, when international war is in decline, there might be more‐viable diplomatic devices to be leveraged and that a large military is scarcely required.
Join us as the author and a panel of experts come together to discuss these arguments and more.
Featured Book
The Stupidity of War: American Foreign Policy and the Case for Complacency
In this highly readable book, John Mueller argues with wisdom and wit rather than ideology and hyperbole that aversion to international war has had considerable consequences. There has seldom been significant danger of major war. Nuclear weapons, international institutions, and America’s super power role have been substantially irrelevant; post‐Cold War policy has been animated more by vast proclamation and half‐vast execution than by the appeals of liberal hegemony; and post‐9/11 concerns about international terrorism and nuclear proliferation have been overwrought and often destructive. Meanwhile, threats from Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, or from cyber technology are limited and manageable. Unlikely to charm Washington, Mueller explains how, when international war is in decline, complacency and appeasement become viable diplomatic devices and a large military is scarcely required.
