Lecture notes: International politics as romance

Vietnam War

War in the Phillipines

Teddy Rooseveldt hunting

Queen Lili’uokalani

Manifest Destiny

Romance

Start by questioning our common preconceptions

“romance” would presumably refer to something romantic
that is, a love story — boy meets girl — they fall in love — meet challenges
but they get each other in the end
but this is really the plot structure of a comedy — cf. romantic comedy — and we’ve talked about that already

The original story is that of the Odysseus — Odisseus

trying to get back home to Ithaca after the Troyan War

A romance was stories told about knights in Provence during the Middle Ages

or during the reconquista of Spain — furusiyya — horsemanship and swordsmanship
from Provence it spread all over Europe

The valiant knights went out on adventures

kill dragons
find treasure
rescue “damsels in distress”
this is where the romantic element comes in

Today

Cf. JRR Tolkien — The Ring — Bilbo the Hobbit
or pretty much any movie made by Hollywood over the last 30 years

There is a great problem

the world is threatened — only the hero can save us
he goes off on a quest — in order to kill the dragon, find the treasure, and so on

The story concerns the adventures he experiences along the way

he meets monsters
he is imprisoned
engages in various tests and battles

International politics

Political leaders that take up the fight against the forces of evil

fight for the good and against the bad
Ronald Reagan fighting the Soviet Union
George W. Bush getting rid of Saddam Hussein – establish democracy in Iraq and peace throughout the Middle East

Or more recent cases

fighting ISIS
supporting Ukraine against Russia
supporting Israel against the Palestinians

Or, for that matter, political groups that want to make the world a better place — they are on quests of their own …

eradicate poverty or illnesses
peace on earth
stop global warming or globalization

We might sympathize with some of these aims — with some more than others — but that’s not the point

understood as a narrative they are all the same
people who believe in them are “romantics” or perhaps we could say “idealists”

Is Erdoğan a romantic in this sense?

a hero on a quest?
clearly some Turkish voters think so

Cf. the tragic Realists

They don’t buy any of all this

it is impossible to alter the logic of international politics — it is what it is
it is foolish to undertake projects that might undermine your “national interests” — national security

Many Realists were against the Vietnam War for this reason (Hans Morgenthau)

or they were against the Iraq War
or they are less likely to support Ukraine —

The role of power politics

the Communists were not a dragon that had to be slayed but an enemy they had to live with
traditional balance of power politics
China and the Soviet Union play this game too!
Cf. Kissinger’s opening to China
Saddam Hussein no different from Stalin — even if he had nuclear weapons

Cf. the Comic Liberals

There are no mortal enemies — there are no evil powers —

what we have is a lack of information and misunderstandings that arise from that fact

We should talk instead of killing one another

Palestinians and Israelis should sit down and talk

Example: The Iraq War

that is, the war between US/Europe and Iraq in 2003

George W. Bush, the American president, saw himself as a romantic hero

he was going to kill the dragon – Saddam Hussein

The Europeans

Germany and France – saw the situation in comical terms

it was a misunderstanding that international organizations could deal with
give the weapons inspectors enough time to search for weapons
refused to believe there was a connection between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein

9/11 –view of the terror threat

USA

declare war against the enemy

Europeans

a matter of policing
they have committed a crime — take them to court
send the police after then, not the military

The way the Bush regime viewed Europeans

weirdly impossible to convince them that we must stand up to our mortal enemies

”Americans are from Mars, Europeans are from Venus”

that is: ”Americans like to tell romances, Europeans prefer comedies”

Who were telling the tragedy here?

above all the traditional US foreign policy establishment
Henry Kissinger and his old sidekicks– Brett Scowcroft etc.

They were often critics of the invasion in Iraq

not because they liked Saddam Hussein, but because they were skeptical towards romantic adventures of all kinds

“National interest”

we cannot change the world — it is what it is
why should we risk so much but with uncertain returns?
we must think of our own safety first

One more thing to explain:

Why did the Europeans suddenly come to describe IR as a comedy?

surely as result of WW2
they were simply fed up with Realpolitik
alliances and balances of power — this is what had created all the wars

evidence that it is possible to talk to old enemies
find common solutions — discussions between reasonable people
negotiations within an international organization

The US

totally different historical experiences

The romance of US foreign policy

map here

Leave Europe and its wars behind

we are going to build a new Jerusalem

Monroe Doctrine

we have our world and you have yours

Manifest Destiny

“Manifest Destiny”

Expansion of the United States across the American continent was inevitable

and also justified and divinely ordained

The term originated in the 1840s

it was the country’s destiny to expand westward and spread American values and institutions
displacement of Native American tribes
annexation of territories such as Texas, California, and Oregon

Criticized

racist and imperialist undertones

Queen Lili’uokalani

The invasion of Hawa’ii

In 1893, a group of American and European businessmen, supported by U.S. Marines, orchestrated a coup against Queen Lili’uokalani, the Hawaiian monarch

established a provisional government with the intention of annexing Hawai’i to the United States
the queen was deposed and replaced with a provisional government led by an American

The U.S. government recognized the new government and annexed Hawai’i in 1898

many in Hawai’i opposed it and viewed it as a violation of their sovereignty.

Obvious violation of the principles of self-determination and national sovereignty

efforts to restore the sovereignty of the Hawaiian people continue

The war in the Philippines

From 1899 to 1902

the United States defeated Spain in the Spanish-American War of 1898
acquired the Philippines as part of the Treaty of Paris

Filipino revolutionaries saw the U.S. takeover as a betrayal

brutal fighting and atrocities committed by both sides
the “water cure”

The conflict officially ended in 1902

but resistance to U.S. rule continued
the country independent in 1946

Gallery of photos

Teddy Rooseveldt hunting

Quotes from Teddy Roosevelt

“The strenuous life is the only life worth living. The life that has to be written down in the history books if it is to be remembered at all.” – From a speech delivered in Chicago, April 10, 1899.

“I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.” – From “The Strenuous Life” speech, delivered in Chicago, April 10, 1899.

“We have pacified some thousands of the islanders and buried them; destroyed their fields, burned their villages, and turned their widows and orphans out-of-doors; furnished heartbreak by exile to some dozens of disagreeable patriots; subjugated the remaining ten millions by Benevolent Assimilation, which is the pious new name of the musket.” (Letter to his friend Henry Sprague, February 4, 1900)

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War

From 1955 to 1975 between North Vietnam, backed by the Soviet Union and China

and South Vietnam, backed by the United States and other anti-communist allies

The war was fought in the context of the Cold War

with the United States and its allies seeking to contain the spread of communism in Southeast Asia.

The conflict began as a civil war in Vietnam,

communist forces in the north led by Ho Chi Minh seeking to unify the country under a communist government
the United States became involved in the conflict in the early 1960s, sending troops and advisors to support the South Vietnamese government

The war quickly escalated into a protracted and bloody conflict