Realities of American Foreign Policy (Norton Library

by George F. Kennan

The task of international politics at the present time, writes Mr. Kennan, is "to find means to permit change to proceed without repeatedly shaking the peace of the world." American foreign policy, he believes, has too often been dangerously unrealistic and has operated under certain misconceptions about the United States' role in the community of nations. Setting out to examine the world context within which American foreign policy must function, Mr. Kennan faces the hard facts of Soviet expansion, the ambiguous and often chaotic forces in the non-communist world, and the enormous difficulty of maintaining a posture of dignity and restraint in our foreign affairs. He warns against the dangers of relying on rigid military solutions, of over-estimating the capacities of the United Nations and other international peace-keeping institutions, and, in general, of looking at international life as a mechanistic rather than an organic process. It is in the inner development of our national life that he believes we can find solutions to our external problems, for American foreign policy will take its shape from the goals of American society.

Genres: Politics

132 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

From Wikipedia:

George Frost Kennan (February 16, 1904 – March 17, 2005) was an American advisor, diplomat, political scientist, and historian, best known as "the father of containment" and as a key figure in the emergence of the Cold War. He later wrote standard histories of the relations between Russia and the Western powers.

In the late 1940s, his writings inspired the Truman Doctrine and the U.S. foreign policy of "containing" the Soviet Union, thrusting him into a lifelong role as a leading authority on the Cold War. His "Long Telegram" from Moscow in 1946, and the subsequent 1947 article "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" argued that the Soviet regime was inherently expansionist and that its influence had to be "contained" in areas of vital strategic importance to the United States. These texts quickly emerged as foundational texts of the Cold War, expressing the Truman administration's new anti-Soviet Union policy. Kennan also played a leading role in the development of definitive Cold War programs and institutions, most notably the Marshall Plan.

Shortly after the diploma had been enshrined as official U.S. policy, Kennan began to criticize the policies that he had seemingly helped launch. By mid-1948, he was convinced that the situation in Western Europe had improved to the point where negotiations could be initiated with Moscow. The suggestion did not resonate within the Truman administration, and Kennan's influence was increasingly marginalized—particularly after Dean Acheson was appointed Secretary of State in 1949. As U.S. Cold War strategy assumed a more aggressive and militaristic tone, Kennan bemoaned what he called a misinterpretation of his thinking.

In 1950, Kennan left the Department of State, except for two brief ambassadorial stints in Moscow and Yugoslavia, and became a leading realist critic of U.S. foreign policy. He continued to be a leading thinker in international affairs as a faculty member of the Institute for Advanced Study from 1956 until his death at age 101 in March 2005.

Reviews

[Thomas Wickham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the first three lectures to be generally insightful, logical, and - with the benefit of hindsight - generally proven "correct" by events since the 1950s. The last lecture is incredibly off, though I do not believe that Kennan would have been able to imagine the present world quite as it is. At the very least, he certainly did not have it as context for his arguments. From a strange, dystopian, globalist mindset to a rather naive and immature assessment of migration, Kennan misses the mark pretty incredibly at various points in the final lecture. Certainly worth reading regardless, as it provides great insight into one of the preeminent foreign policy minds of the 20th century.

[Mart · Rating 3 out of 5]

First two lectures are decent. They argue against the idealization of international law and organisms. Last two aren't really valuable