Drezner has an interesting post commenting on a Financial Times article about Rice's reshaping of the State Department. He generally approves (less neo-cons, more realists, in his opinion).
What is interesting, for us IR people, is that Stephen Krasner (that old dinosaur) is getting the Policy job at State. That's really high up. I haven't read Krasner in quite a while, but I don't remember any brilliance. Here's the quote by him from the FT article:
"The notion that you can create an ideal world is what walked us into Mao's China, Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia. If you want a decent life, what you need is a political system which is prudent and limited. I think that the United States has actually done pretty well in that regard."
To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure what this means. Is he saying that Idealism (or Liberalism - which, for those non IR types, has nothing to do with the democractic party) got us into China, Germany (World Wars I and II? NATO? when and where?), and Russia (when were we "in" Stalin's Russia? We placed troops in Vladivostock in 1919, but other than that, what is he talking about?)? How were our policies in those times and places bad (which he does not state, but implies)? Anyone got a clue?
Posted by baltar at January 18, 2005 09:51 AM | TrackBack | Posted to International AffairsBy "us" I think he means the human race. It doesn't appear he means the US. And if he's serious about not trying to impose idealistic ideologies - I wish him the best of luck in his fights with the White House.
Posted by: Armand at January 18, 2005 11:06 AM | PERMALINKOh, so governments trying to create an "ideal" world (Hitler's Germany, Stalin's USSR, and Mao's China) did awful things. And since the US has a "prudent" government, we have avoided awful things. I guess it makes sense that way. It's not obvious, though. Nor is it necessarily logical - does that mean we should never try to better our societies (isn't that what the social conservatives are trying to do)? It also isn't historical - while Hitler, Mao and Stalin may have publically proclaimed they were trying to create an ideal world, in reality I don't think anyone really throught they were.
I'm still confused, and not re-assured that he'll be high up in the State Department.
Posted by: baltar at January 18, 2005 11:30 AM | PERMALINKutopia -> dystopia
trying to achieve the perfect revolution only creates the perfect disaster
if you aren't aiming to create perfection, and only insist on a fair process, then you don't have to "re-educate" people to make them see their really want to become the new socialist man.
Posted by: binky at January 20, 2005 08:28 AM | PERMALINK