In Hard Interests, Soft Illusions, Natasha Hamilton-Hart
explores the belief held by foreign policy elites in much of
Southeast Asia Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand,
Singapore, and Vietnam that the United States is a relatively
benign power. She argues that this belief is an important factor
underpinning U.S. preeminence in the region, because beliefs inform
specific foreign policy decisions and form the basis for broad
orientations of alignment, opposition, or nonalignment. Such
foundational beliefs, however, do not simply reflect objective
facts and reasoning processes. Hamilton-Hart argues that they are
driven by both interests in this case the political and economic
interests of ruling groups in Southeast Asia and illusions.
Hamilton-Hart shows how the information landscape and standards
of professional expertise within the foreign policy communities of
Southeast Asia shape beliefs about the United States. These
opinions frequently rest on deeply biased understandings of
national history that dominate perceptions of the past and underlie
strategic assessments of the present and future. Members of the
foreign policy community rarely engage in probabilistic reasoning
or effortful knowledge-testing strategies. This does not mean, she
emphasizes, that the beliefs are insincere or merely instrumental
rationalizations. Rather, cognitive and affective biases in the
ways humans access and use information mean that interests
influence beliefs; how they do so depends on available information,
the social organization and practices of a professional sphere, and
prevailing standards for generating knowledge."
General
Imprint: |
Cornell University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
February 2012 |
First published: |
February 2012 |
Authors: |
Natasha Hamilton-Hart
|
Dimensions: |
235 x 155 x 22mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Cloth over boards / With dust jacket
|
Pages: |
256 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8014-5054-9 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-8014-5054-3 |
Barcode: |
9780801450549 |
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