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ID: 062314

Anatomy of a habit: america's unnecessary wars / Harper, John L

2005

Harper, John L	Journal Article
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Publication	2005.
Description	p57-86
Summary/Abstract	The manner in which and the reasons for which the United States went to war against Iraq in 2003 do not represent a radical departure from the past. American history shows that the United States has had a strong propensity to become involved in unnecessary wars. These wars share some common characteristics: they were justified in the name of America’s presumed historical mission; they were entered into on the basis of false premises; a relatively small ‘war party’ was indispensable to the decision to go to war; the two-party democratic competition frequently acted as a stimulus to military action; the wars exhibit a kind of ‘law of unintended consequences’

Key Words

Use of force ; Iraq-War ; Unnecessary Wars ; United Stats-National Security

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ID: 183786

Nixon in China, February 1972: Revisiting the 'Week that Changed the World' / Harper, John L

Harper, John L	Journal Article
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Summary/Abstract

When Richard M. Nixon became president in 1969, US–China relations had been frozen for 20 years. Nixon was well positioned to transform those relations: he enjoyed the confidence of US conservatives, and no one could reasonably accuse him of sympathising with communism. He had developed a realist world view that minimised the importance of ideology and of a state’s domestic system. The time was right for a new approach because China and the Soviet Union had come to see each other as deadly enemies. The US was bogged down in Vietnam and urgently in need of a relaxation of external pressure. Nixon’s visit to China in February 1972 initiated a process of normalisation and a shift in the international power balance decisively in favour of the West. But Nixon did not foresee China’s transformation along democratic lines and considered it a greater threat than the Soviet Union over the long run.

Key Words

China ; Henry Kissinger ; Richard M. Nixon ; Cold War ; Leonid Brezhne ; February 1972

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ID: 160910

Pierre Hassner (1933–2018): an appreciation / Harper, John L

Harper, John L	Journal Article
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Summary/Abstract

Hassner's common sense and scepticism led him to challenge schematic arguments about both the clash of civilisations and the end of history.

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Pierre Hassner

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