Sunday, May 22, 2011

Walter Russell Mead on Clausewitz

A good, brief introduction to Clausewitz. Mead's course, like the Grand Strategy course at Yale under John Lewis Gaddis, Paul Kennedy, and Charles Hill, seems like an excellent exercise. Mead makes a good point: we won't make war go away by ignoring it, and we're wise to prepare for it. We are foolish to hope war will go away even with all of the good will and new institutions we can create. We can't bet on it. Mead, and Clausewitz, make us face these unpleasant thoughts.