Syriana: Responsibility to Protect or Someone Else’s Problem?

If you’ve ever taken an International Relations Theory course then it’s likely that you’ve encountered the ubiquitous naysayer or two of IR Theory. “Why does this even matter in the study of foreign policy?” “Who cares what the Athenians told the Melians (FYI: 'The strong do as they can and the weak suffer what they must')?” “Leaders don’t think about this stuff when formulating foreign policy!” Now, the last accusation may in fact be true. Sure, foreign policy elites are not necessarily thumbing through volumes of Morgenthau, Grotius, Kant, Wendt, and/or Waltz when deciding what to do about North Korea. But, these authors and the IR theories they construct provide useful …

Dog Days Classics: Lanny Budd, Upton Sinclair’s Ideal Idler

"It was profoundly true that movements of the spirit came first, and that events of history were consequences thereof." -Upton Sinclair, Wide is the Gate Several years ago I was directed toward Upton Sinclair’s socialist-minded quasi-spy novels about a young man named Lanning Prescott Budd. The 11 books span the breadth of time from the onset of The Great War to the rise of the Cold War, but as I have been able to acquire only the first half of the series, my investigation has followed Lanny only so far as the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. A New York Times reflection on the books gives a decent introduction to the protagonist: Born in 1900, he was the illegitimate child of an …

Richard Olney: The Worst Person in the World?

If Keith Olbermann lived a hundred-odd years ago, there’s no doubt that Richard Olney would have made his “Worst Person in the World” segment. For starters Olney’s politics are not exactly Olbermannian. Richard Olney (not to be confused with the food writer of the same name) is known to historians for two acts in public life. In 1894, as attorney general, he convinced President Grover Cleveland to send federal troops to crush the massive Pullman railroad strike (and this despite the fact that the Illinois governor not only did not request the troops, but actually begged Washington not to send them). The following year, as secretary of state, Olney famously stated that “To-day …

Another Look at the Fall of Tripoli

A perspective from our Libya correspondent, an expatriate with close ties on the ground in Tripoli: I am still in shock as to how quick and easy Tripoli fell. They had that all planned in advance and knew the situation in the city and how weak G’s forces were and so they went ahead with the attack on their own without waiting for those rebels from the surrounding towns. They’ve been arming themselves clandestinely for months smuggling weapons in and getting a lot from current army officers who secretly worked with them. They also bought some from whoever had them and was willing to get 500 dinars for each machine gun or rifle, which is a lot of money. Remember that it was G who gave …

Dog Days Classics: Revisiting the Long Twentieth Century

Today we begin to look at more recent works that influenced us -- at least "recent" in historians' terms, which in this case means 1994.  Last week we looked at classics like The American Political Tradition (1948) and Orientalism (1978).  Today we go all the way back to Renaissance Genoa to find the origins of the current capitalist death-spiral (or, as the Germans say, the pharfignewton) in Giovanni Arrighi's The Long Twentieth Century. Giovanni Arrighi, The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power, and the Origins of Our Times, 1994 Historians have a habit of expanding and contracting time to suit their schema – there is the “short twentieth century,” the “long …

The World in 2011

As regular readers know, we at Tropics of Meta try in all things to be as much like the Economist as possible.  For this reason, we have consulted a distinguished panel of historians, political scientists, fishmongers and Daley machine hacks to weigh in on their expectations for the year 2011.  Their predictions range from likely events in academia and politics to music, fiction, and fast food -- and sometimes a combination of these fields.  So without further ado, we give you the shape of things to come: ........................................................... The writers of the defunct TV show Lost will admit they were just kidding and air a new sixth season. Columbia University …

Women and Children First: The Importance of Gender and Military Families in the Cold War Era

In 1898, America embarked on its imperial project as it engaged a struggling colonial Spain in Cuba and the Philippines. As one government official opined, “It was a splendid little war.” Of course, the brutal war waged by the U.S. in the Philippines and the occupation of the archipelago by U.S. forces required some justification, as did nearly all other foreign policy adventures of the twentieth century. The tragedy of World War II only magnified America’s international presence. If a world power in 1898, by the 1950s America stood as one of two superpowers. People commonly think of foreign policy resting on the strength of military exploits, yet few would deny the importance of …

The Long War(s)

It is fortuitous that Alex prompted me to write a review of Andrew Bacevich’s new book in wake of the latest WikiLeaks release of classified documents. Those mildly depressed by the specter of American citizens’ conspicuous detachment from the wars conducted in their name surely welcome this newfound—and undoubtedly soon to be short-lived—attention to US foreign policy. Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War begins on a personal note. As a West Point graduate, Vietnam veteran, Princeton Ph.D., and, above all, conservative Catholic, Bacevich had always “taken comfort in orthodoxy.” It was not until Bacevich’s retirement from the army, which coincided with the end …

Diplomatic History: The Choice is Yours

Earlier this month, William Mangoman Williams described how diplomatic history went from being the academy’s White Knight to its Black Sheep. While Mangoman believes that the innovations of the last thirty-odd years have renewed the field intellectually, he notes that this has so far failed to reverse its institutional decline. Diplomatic history may be cool again, but diplomatic historians aren’t getting hired. Mangoman then wonders whether these two trends aren’t related: perhaps it is precisely diplomatic historians’ newfound willingness to incorporate discourse analysis and the like that is responsible for its continuing doldrums? Maybe focusing on the culture of imperialism …

Diplomatic History: Bringing Sexy Back

Diplomatic history, the famous quip goes, is the record of what one clerk said to another clerk. Or so it was. In 1959 William Appleman Williams published The Tragedy of American Diplomacy, igniting a ferocious debate about American empire. While at least a generation of diplomatic historians were busy arguing about Turner’s Frontier Thesis, the Open Door notes, and who’s most to blame for the Cold War, other historians were revolutionizing the way history was written by studying topics like gender, race, and ideology. Diplomatic history was at its peak of popularity during the most violent years of the Vietnam War, but soon after the conclusion of the war the subfield realized it had …