-
Robert Farley commented on the blog post FDL Book Salon Welcomes Andrew Bacevich, The Short American Century: A Postmortem
Thank you very much!
-
Robert Farley commented on the blog post FDL Book Salon Welcomes Andrew Bacevich, The Short American Century: A Postmortem
At the risk of getting too technical, do you have any thoughts on the Cooperative Maritime Strategy? Liberal internationalist Exceptionalism run wild, or modern multilateral burden-sharing?
-
Robert Farley commented on the blog post FDL Book Salon Welcomes Andrew Bacevich, The Short American Century: A Postmortem
This is interesting; to what extent would a significant state-driven effort to find fossil fuel alternatives make sense in the context of the end of the American Century?
-
Robert Farley commented on the blog post FDL Book Salon Welcomes Andrew Bacevich, The Short American Century: A Postmortem
It neither forecloses the idea of serving as exemplar nor does it mandate a reliance on coercion.
This gets to the fourth question I asked; is some aspirational form of American Exceptionalism worth fighting for, or simply too dangerous?
-
Robert Farley commented on the blog post FDL Book Salon Welcomes Andrew Bacevich, The Short American Century: A Postmortem
Apparently, the foundation for that quote is Lord Palmerston. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Temple,_3rd_Viscount_Palmerston
I’ve also seen it attributed to Talleyrand, Metternich, E.H. Carr, and Hans Morgenthau.
-
Robert Farley commented on the blog post FDL Book Salon Welcomes Andrew Bacevich, The Short American Century: A Postmortem
On the entitlement point, to my recollection not many of the essays in the volume focused on this point; there was some consideration of the collapse of embedded liberalism after the Cold War, and a lot of concern about corporate capitalism, but not a ton about the size of the US welfare state.
-
Robert Farley commented on the blog post FDL Book Salon Welcomes Andrew Bacevich, The Short American Century: A Postmortem
Good, worth clarifying.
-
Robert Farley commented on the blog post FDL Book Salon Welcomes Andrew Bacevich, The Short American Century: A Postmortem
“Indeed, doesn’t the American Empire really find its current manifestation in the development and use of nuclear weapons … or the continuing threat of the use of such weapons.”
I would think it’s a little bit different than that; nuclear weapons don’t actual make the US exceptional, at least not since 1949. But other military tools (network centric force, 11 aircraft carriers, etc.) maybe…
-
Robert Farley commented on the blog post FDL Book Salon Welcomes Andrew Bacevich, The Short American Century: A Postmortem
Slightly off-topic; when did Life stop publishing anything vaguely as interesting as the Luce essay?
-
Robert Farley commented on the blog post FDL Book Salon Welcomes Andrew Bacevich, The Short American Century: A Postmortem
The book does have a good chapter on Protestant millenialism and American Exceptionalism, so that’s on point.
-
Robert Farley commented on the blog post FDL Book Salon Welcomes Andrew Bacevich, The Short American Century: A Postmortem
“An inability to appreciate the limited efficacy of military power.”
Do you think there’s anything specific to airpower that exacerbates this? The Short American Century is very approximately of the same time frame as the United States Air Force…
-
Robert Farley commented on the blog post FDL Book Salon Welcomes Andrew Bacevich, The Short American Century: A Postmortem
“Does the apparent telescoping of time these days play any role in the shortness of the “American Century?”
Good question…
-
Robert Farley commented on the blog post FDL Book Salon Welcomes Andrew Bacevich, The Short American Century: A Postmortem
Hello all; I think we can open with an opportunity for Dr. Bacevich to respond to the post (if he wishes, or not), and then proceed to the first question:
“Is there anything exceptional about American Exceptionalism? Every country has a set of myths about its place in the world and a narrative of how it got from A to B. Other than the fact that the United States is especially large and powerful, what’s particularly important about the US narrative of exceptionalism?”
Also, if you have your own questions fire away!
