The silence of the rational center : why American foreign policy is failing / Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Halper, Stefan A.

Contributor:

Clarke, Jonathan, 1947-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--Foreign relations--2001-2009.

United States.

International relations.

Physical Description:

vii, 312 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Basic Books, [2007]

Summary:

What has happened to American foreign policy? Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke argue that the members of what used to be called the foreign policy establishment are no longer doing the job of keeping our foreign policy informed and rational. Instead, hungry to coin the next Big Idea, they are in the business of advancing simplistic, glib mythologies. The result is that Americans are often presented with a fantasy world of nightmare scenarios rather than with explanations that lead to rational choices. Taking to task such well-known figures as Samuel Huntington, Noam Chomsky, and Jeffrey Sachs, Halper and Clarke argue for a revival of integrity within our foreign policy elite so that America's standing in the world can be restored. A book that pulls no punches, The Silence of the Rational Center is both a penetrating diagnosis and a stirring call to reform in what is possibly the most important area of American political life.

Contents:

The big idea in history

Three institutional failures

Cable news : accelerating the big idea

Think tanks

An unreliable elite

Elites and the use of force

Insurgency

The intelligence dilemma

The acid test

A return to rationality.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780465011414

0465011411

OCLC:

75087922