BOOKS IN BRIEF

The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities

IT’S A HOBBESIAN WORLD OUT THERE, and only realists thrive. For John J. Mearsheimer, the argument that Washington policymakers should embrace realpolitik is familiar, and he pounds it home in The Great Delusion.

Liberal do-gooders on the international stage fail to achieve their goals and actually do more harm than good, he argues. Beginning with Bill Clinton’s presidency and continuing through the next two administrations, Washington aimed to spread democracy, build international institutions, and forge a more open economic system. The result, Mearsheimer says, has been endless war overseas and an erosion of liberal values at home, thanks to the global war on terrorism and an