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The essential resource on military and political strategy and the making of the modern world.
The New Makers of Modern Strategy is the next generation of the definitive work on strategy and the key figures who have shaped the theory and practice of war and statecraft throughout the centuries. Featuring entirely new entries by a who’s who of world-class scholars, this new edition provides global, comparative perspectives on strategic thought from antiquity to today, surveying both classical and current themes of strategy while devoting greater attention to the Cold War and post-9/11 eras. The contributors evaluate the timeless requirements of effective strategy while tracing the revolutionary changes that challenge the makers of strategy in the contemporary world. Amid intensifying global disorder, the study of strategy and its history has never been more relevant. The New Makers of Modern Strategy draws vital lessons from history’s most influential strategists, from Thucydides and Sun Zi to Clausewitz, Napoleon, Churchill, Mao, Ben-Gurion, Andrew Marshall, Xi Jinping, and Qassem Soleimani.
With contributions by Dmitry Adamsky, John Bew, Tami Davis Biddle, Hal Brands, Antulio J. Echevarria II, Elizabeth Economy, Charles Edel, Eric S. Edelman, Andrew Ehrhardt, Lawrence Freedman, John Lewis Gaddis, Francis J. Gavin, Christopher J. Griffin, Ahmed S. Hashim, Eric Helleiner, Wayne Wei-siang Hsieh, Seth G. Jones, Robert Kagan, Jonathan Kirshner, Matthew Kroenig, James Lacey, Guy Laron, Michael V. Leggiere, Margaret MacMillan, Tanvi Madan, Thomas G. Mahnken, Carter Malkasian, Daniel Marston, John H. Maurer, Walter Russell Mead, Michael Cotey Morgan, Mark Moyar, Williamson Murray, S.C.M. Paine, Sergey Radchenko, Iskander Rehman, Thomas Rid, Joshua Rovner, Priya Satia, Kori Schake, Matt J. Schumann, Brendan Simms, Jason K. Stearns, Hew Strachan, Sue Mi Terry, and Toshi Yoshihara.
Realpolitik is approaching its 160th birthday, though it has
existed as a form of statecraft for centuries and is arguably as
old as the conduct of foreign affairs itself. Associated with great
thinkers from Machiavelli to Kissinger, it is deeply rooted in the
history of diplomacy yet also remains strikingly relevant to
debates on contemporary foreign policy in the Obama administration
today. Despite the fact that Realpolitik has had something of a
renaissance in recent years, however, it remains a surprisingly
elusive notion, defying easy categorization. In this concise book,
John Bew aims to address this gap, offering a history of the
concept of Realpolitik in the English-speaking world: its origins
as an idea; its practical application to statecraft in the recent
past; and its relevance to the foreign policy challenges facing the
United States and its allies in the future. Now most often
associated with the conduct of foreign policy, Realpolitik has
traditionally had pejorative connotations in the English-speaking
world and sits uneasily alongside notions of "enlightenment,"
"morality" and "virtue." But it has also had its defenders,
admirers and exponents, who regard it as the best tool for the
successful wielding of political power and the preservation of
global order. As such, Realpolitik has both successes and failures
to its name, as Bew's comprehensive and even-handed overview
displays. Bew begins by charting the evolution of the idea through
the work of important thinkers or statesmen from Machiavelli,
Cardinal de Richelieu, and Thomas Hobbes up through Carl Schmitt,
Kissinger, and Dennis Ross. He then examines how Realpolitik has
been evoked and operationalized in US and UK foreign policy during
specific episodes in the twentieth century, looking at such cases
as the overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in
1953, and President Nixon's visit to the People's Republic of China
in 1972 - often taken as the archetypal instance of Realpolitik in
action. Bew then uses this historical platform to look forward to
emerging foreign policy challenges in a changing, multi-polar,
geo-political scene - in which Realpolitik and agile statecraft
seems as important as ever. Suggesting that there is a uniquely
Anglo-American version of Realpolitik, which reflects an attempt
(not always a successful one) to reconcile Western ideological and
moral norms with purely utilitarian conceptions of the national
interest, Bew argues that a more accurate and sustainable version
of Anglo-American Realpolitik is one that recognizes the draw
Enlightenment values and ideas. Directed at a broader audience of
current policy-makers, legislators and commentators with an
interest in foreign affairs, this is a brilliant introduction to an
important topic from one of the field's rising stars.
**WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING** **WINNER OF
THE ELIZABETH LONGFORD PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY** *Book of
the year: The Times, Sunday Times, New Statesman, Spectator,
Evening Standard* 'Outstanding . . . We still live in the society
that was shaped by Clement Attlee' Robert Harris, Sunday Times 'The
best book in the field of British politics' Philip Collins, The
Times 'Easily the best single-volume, cradle-to-grave life of
Clement Attlee yet written' Andrew Roberts Clement Attlee was the
Labour prime minister who presided over Britain's radical postwar
government, delivering the end of the Empire in India, the
foundation of the NHS and Britain's place in NATO. Called 'a sheep
in sheep's clothing', his reputation has long been that of an
unassuming character in the shadow of Churchill. But as John Bew's
revelatory biography shows, Attlee was not only a hero of his age,
but an emblem of it; and his life tells the story of how Britain
changed over the twentieth century. Here, Bew pierces Attlee's
reticence to examine the intellect and beliefs of Britain's
greatest - and least appreciated - peacetime prime minister. This
edition includes a new preface by the author in response to the
2017 general election.
Since its coinage in mid-19th century Germany, Realpolitik has
proven both elusive and protean. To some, it represents the best
approach to meaningful change and political stability in a world
buffeted by uncertainty and rapid transformation. To others, it
encapsulates an attitude of cynicism and cold calculation, a
transparently self-justifying policy exercised by dominant nations
over weaker. Remolded across generations and presupposed to its
political and ideological moment, Realpolitik remains a touchstone
for discussion about statecraft and diplomacy. It is a freighted
concept. Historian John Bew explores the genesis of Realpolitik,
tracing its longstanding and enduring relevance in political and
foreign policy debates. Bew's book uncovers the context that gave
birth to Realpolitik-that of the fervor of radical change in 1848
in Europe. He explains its application in the conduct of foreign
policy from the days of Bismarck onward. Lastly, he illuminates its
translation from German into English, one that reveals the uniquely
Anglo-American version of realpolitik-small "r"-being practiced
today, a modern iteration that attempts to reconcile idealism with
the pursuit of national interests. Lively, encyclopedic, and
utterly original, Realpolitik: A History illuminates the life and
times of a term that has shaped and will continue to shape
international relations.
The best political biography of the year' Jonathan Sumption,
Spectator 'Wonderful . . . A Life so nearly complete it need never
be written again' Ferdinand Mount, Times Literary Supplement By the
author of the Orwell Prize-winning Citizen Clem Damned in
coruscating verse by Shelley and Byron, his coffin hissed at during
his funeral, Lord Castlereagh has one of the blackest reputations
in British history. But as John Bew shows, this is but a half-drawn
portrait. His gripping biography reveals a shy, inarticulate but
passionate man; a towering political figure of implacable
principles who redrew the map of Europe, fought a duel with a
cabinet colleague and would tragically take his own life amid
rumours of scandal and madness.
Belfast Politics, arguably one of the most important texts in
modern Irish history, appeared in 1794 as a collection of twenty
essays outlining a moderate political position in the increasingly
polarised politics of 1790s Ireland. It contains the seeds of the
so-called 'transformation' of so many late eighteenth-century
Ulster radicals into the Unionists of the early nineteenth-century.
Although sharing many of the political principles and much of the
language which inspired the United Irishmen, including support for
the American Revolution and the use of civic humanist and
Enlightenment discourse, Bruce and Joy maintained that these ideas
were consistent with, and best served within, the framework of the
British constitution, and their book was unique in bringing an
inclusive notion of 'Britishness' to the mainstream Irish reform
movement.
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