The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities | SOAS Un...

The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities was a talk given by Professor John J Mearsheimer at the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy, SOAS University of London on 21 January 2019. Find out more at http://bit.ly/2Dv5nlZ It is widely believed in the West that the United States should spread liberal democracy across the world, foster an open international economy, and build institutions. This policy of remaking the world in America’s image is supposed to protect human rights, promote peace, and make the world safe for democracy. But this is not what has happened. Instead, the United States has ended up as a highly militarized state fighting wars that undermine peace, harm human rights, and threaten liberal values at home. Mearsheimer tells us why this has happened. Speaker John J. Mearsheimer is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, where he has taught since 1982. He graduated from West Point in 1970 and then served five years as an officer in the U.S. Air Force. He then started graduate school in political science at Cornell University in 1975. He received his Ph.D. in 1980. He spent the 1979-1980 academic year as a research fellow at the Brookings Institution, and was a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University's Center for International Affairs from 1980 to 1982. During the 1998-1999 academic year, he was the Whitney H. Shepardson Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Professor Mearsheimer has written extensively about security issues and international politics more generally. He has published six books: Conventional Deterrence (1983), which won the Edgar S. Furniss, Jr., Book Award; Liddell Hart and the Weight of History (1988); The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (2001, 2014), which won the Joseph Lepgold Book Prize and has been translated into eight different languages; The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy (with Stephen M. Walt, 2007), which made the New York Times best seller list and has been translated into twenty-two different languages; Why Leaders Lie: The Truth about Lying in International Politics (2011), which has been translated into ten different languages; and The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities (2018). He has also written many articles that have appeared in academic journals like International Security, and popular magazines like Foreign Affairs and the London Review of Books. Furthermore, he has written a number of op-ed pieces for the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times dealing with topics like Bosnia, nuclear proliferation, American policy towards India, the failure of Arab-Israeli peace efforts, the folly of invading Iraq, and the causes of the Ukrainian crisis. Finally, Professor Mearsheimer has won a number of teaching awards. He received the Clark Award for Distinguished Teaching when he was a graduate student at Cornell in 1977, and he won the Quantrell Award for Distinguished Teaching at the University of Chicago in 1985. In addition, he was selected as a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar for the 1993-1994 academic year. In that capacity, he gave a series of talks at eight colleges and universities. In 2003, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Chair This event will be chaired by Professor Arshin Adib-Moghaddam. Arshin Adib-Moghaddam is Professor in Global Thought and Comparative Philosophies at SOAS University of London and Fellow of Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge.

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The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities Paperback – 26 November 2019

by John J. Mearsheimer  (Author)

4.6 out of 5 stars    150 ratings

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A renowned scholar argues that liberal hegemony—the policy America has pursued since the Cold War ended—is doomed to fail

Named a Financial Times Best Book of 2018

“Idealists as well as realists need to read this systematic tour de force.”—Robert D. Kaplan, author of The Return of Marco Polo’s World

It is widely believed in the West that the United States should spread liberal democracy across the world, foster an open international economy, and build international institutions. The policy of remaking the world in America’s image is supposed to protect human rights, promote peace, and make the world safe for democracy. But this is not what has happened. Instead, the United States has become a highly militarized state fighting wars that undermine peace, harm human rights, and threaten liberal values at home.

 

In this major statement, the renowned international-relations scholar John Mearsheimer argues that liberal hegemony—the foreign policy pursued by the United States since the Cold War ended—is doomed to fail. It makes far more sense, he maintains, for Washington to adopt a more restrained foreign policy based on a sound understanding of how nationalism and realism constrain great powers abroad. The Great Delusion is a lucid and compelling work of the first importance for scholars, policymakers, and everyone interested in the future of American foreign policy.

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Product description Review “A thought-provoking and bleak worldview.”—Gideon Rachmann, Financial Times (A Financial Times Best Book of 2018) “Provocative and timely.”—John Gray, Literary Review "This is the best of the many books that seek to explain how and why American foreign policy has gone so disastrously wrong. Mearsheimer hits the sweet spot where theory meets the chaos of today's world."—Stephen Kinzer, author of The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War "John Mearsheimer’s The Great Delusion is policy-relevant scholarship at its best: a summation of a leading scholar’s accumulated thinking about international relations theory and American foreign policy."—Christopher Layne, University Distinguished Professor of International Affairs, Texas A&M University "Liberal states have many virtues, but The Great Delusion explains, with rigorous logic and admirable clarity, why their efforts to spread their values are usually doomed to fail. Both liberal crusaders and unrepentant realists have much to learn from this compelling book.”—Stephen Walt, Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School "Idealists as well as realists need to read this systematic tour de force. Even if you don't agree, it will discipline your own thinking."—Robert D. Kaplan, author of The Return of Marco Polo's World: War, Strategy, and American Interests in the Twenty-First Century

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Top reviews from other countries Ned Wiley 5.0 out of 5 stars The dream at the end of the Cold War was that global Liberal Democracy was inevitable: wrong! Reviewed in Germany on 25 February 2022 Verified Purchase John Mearsheimer is one of the foremost proponents of Neo-realism. The great Liberal hope that following the end of the Cold War, the ideals of liberal democracy would become the global standard, turns out to have been nothing more than a hopeful dream. The hard realism of nation states pursuing their own perceived self-interests can be seen in the policies being pursued by China under Chairman Xi and most vividly by Russia under Czar Putin. Time to wake up and smell the coffee before it's too late! One person found this helpful Report abuse Anh-tuan Dam 5.0 out of 5 stars Understanding the world through theories Reviewed in Canada on 9 October 2018 Verified Purchase If there is anything to take from this book, it's that you need theories to understand how the world works. Not only that, we have an obligation to continually assess how well those theories fare both descriptively and prescriptively based on our history of conventional and nuclear wars. It's not good enough to believe in ideology/theory/political leadership especially when they more than often generate failures. Such is the case for liberal hegemony since its universalist nature renders their supporters incapable of respecting opposing states' nationalism and traditional balance-of-power politics. The lack of consideration and respect of these forces are risk factors we can no longer afford to ignore especially since USA's status as a sole superpower is no longer guaranteed. It may be counter-intuitive to those who don't follow theory, but as a convinced realist, we should start working with Russia to share security burdens and to contain China. We should even increase immigration from China to limit their economic growth in the long-term as long as resources allow it. Report abuse Stefan Weber 5.0 out of 5 stars A "Must Read" Reviewed in Germany on 6 February 2022 Verified Purchase This is one of two books on foreign relations, every person should read. Clear argument, strong case (because realists make logical assumptions). And many examples to show the point. For me also important is the message, that this constant warfare undermines the liberal state at home. Report abuse Laurence Mardon 5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating & thought-provoking Reviewed in Canada on 31 October 2018 Verified Purchase This guy should be U.S. Secretary of State ... or -- better yet -- he should be kidnapped & made Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs. 7 people found this helpful Report abuse Vikash Chandra 5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reviewed in India on 1 November 2018 Verified Purchase It's a fantastic book: theoretically informed, lucidly written with an in-depth analysis. One person found this helpful Report abuse