Perils of Reasoning by Historical Analogy: Munich, Vietnam and American Use of Force Since 1945 - How Have Munich and Vietnam Influenced National Security Policy? Cold War Lessons for Current World
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
This excellent report has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction. The intellectual starting point for his essay is that the normal human predilection is to reason by historical analogy, and that, in his words, such reasoning "has played a significant role in the formulation and implementation of US foreign policy since the end of World War II." Record's essay examines the downside of over-reliance on reasoning by historical analogy, focusing on perhaps the two most influential analogies, the Munich Conference of 1938 and the Vietnam War. As Record makes clear, each of these events shaped how several generations viewed and continue to view international politics and the responsibilities of the United States. Record warns that careless reasoning by historical analogy can have disastrous consequences for American foreign policy. The perceived lessons of Munich underpinned US intervention in Vietnam. Will the Cold War's necessity and experience of containing the Soviet Union come to be seen as applicable to emerging Chinese power?
Chapter I * Introduction * Chapter II * What Happened at Munich and in Vietnam, and What Lessons Did They Present? * Chapter III * How Have Munich and Vietnam Influenced National Security Policy? * Chapter IV * Have Munich and Vietnam Usefully Informed Policy? * Chapter V * Does Reasoning by Historical Analogy Help or Hinder? * Notes
Reasoning by historical analogy has played a significant role in the formulation and implementation of US foreign policy since the end of World War II, especially on matters involving consideration or actual use of force. States, like individuals, make decisions based at least in part on past experience, or, more specifically, what they believe past experience teaches. But reasoning by historical analogy can be dangerous, especially if such reasoning is untempered by recognition that no two historical events are identical and that the future is more than a linear extension of the past. The instructiveness of historical events tends to diminish the greater their distance in time and space from the day and place they occurred. To be sure, historical analogies can helpfully inform policy. Many policy-makers, however, are historically illiterate, and most that are well read make policy decisions, just like their untutored brethren, primarily on the basis of considerations having nothing to do with the perceived lessons of past experience. For example, the Johnson administration's very reluctant decision to fight in Vietnam was driven as much by perceived domestic political imperatives (notably fear that abandoning South Vietnam would provoke a presidency-destroying "soft-on-communism" political backlash) as by any other factor.
Progressive Management
Progressive Management: For over a quarter of a century, our news, educational, technical, scientific, and medical publications have made unique and valuable references accessible to all people. Our imprints include PM Medical Health News, Advanced Professional Education and News Service, Auto Racing Analysis, and World Spaceflight News. Many of our publications synthesize official information with original material. They are designed to provide a convenient user-friendly reference work to uniformly present authoritative knowledge that can be rapidly read, reviewed or searched. Vast archives of important data that might otherwise remain inaccessible are available for instant review no matter where you are. The e-book format makes a great reference work and educational tool. There is no other reference book that is as convenient, comprehensive, thoroughly researched, and portable - everything you need to know, from renowned experts you trust. Our e-books put knowledge at your fingertips, and an expert in your pocket!
Related to Perils of Reasoning by Historical Analogy
Related ebooks
Making War, Thinking History: Munich, Vietnam, and Presidential Uses of Force from Korea to Kosovo Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Safeguarding Democratic Capitalism: U.S. Foreign Policy and National Security, 1920-2015 Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Forced Out Of Vietnam Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAppeasement Reconsidered: Investigating The Mythology Of The 1930s Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anatomy of Failure: Why America Loses Every War It Starts Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Impact Of An Operational Void: The Strategic Hamlet Program, 1961-1963 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCatastrophic Consequences: Civil Wars and American Interests Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Operation Rolling Thunder: Strategic Implications Of Airpower Doctrine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerican Presidents in Diplomacy and War: Statecraft, Foreign Policy, and Leadership Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Long War: A New History of U.S. National Security Policy Since World War II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe United States and the Berlin Blockade 1948-1949: A Study in Crisis Decision-Making Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBombing to Win: Air Power and Coercion in War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Grand Strategy for America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Sense of Power: The Roots of America's Global Role Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Unreliable Watchdog: The News Media and U.S. Foreign Policy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhile America Sleeps: Self-Delusion, Military Weakness, and the Threat to Peace Today Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tet Offensive: A Concise History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWorse Than a Monolith: Alliance Politics and Problems of Coercive Diplomacy in Asia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Columbia History of the Vietnam War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCivil-Military Relations From Vietnam To Operation Iraqi Freedom Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Containment to Americanism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsContainment and Credibility: The Ideology and Deception That Plunged America into the Vietnam War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Republic of Vietnam, 1955–1975: Vietnamese Perspectives on Nation Building Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAt the Crossroads of Justice: My Lai and Son Thang—American Atrocities in Vietnam Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGale Researcher Guide for: The Cold War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerica's War in Vietnam: A Short Narrative History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twelve American Wars: Nine of Them Avoidable Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTurning Points: The Role of the State Department in Vietnam (1945–1975) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIraq Uncensored: Perspectives Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEnding the Vietnam War: A History of America's Involvement in and Extrication from the Vietnam War Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5
Wars & Military For You
The Last Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Art of War: The Definitive Interpretation of Sun Tzu's Classic Book of Strategy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Doctors From Hell: The Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of The 33 Strategies of War: by Robert Greene - A Comprehensive Summary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnit 731: Testimony Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Daily Creativity Journal Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World--and Why Their Differences Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wager Disaster: Mayem, Mutiny and Murder in the South Seas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unacknowledged: An Expose of the World's Greatest Secret Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The History of the Peloponnesian War: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War & Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Perils of Reasoning by Historical Analogy
0 ratings0 reviews