Thanks to the wonderful generosity of Steve Kuhn, Richard Hanania will be presenting his new book, Public Choice Theory and the Illusion of Grand Strategy, in Austin, Texas next week, with special guest Razib Khan.
Free and open to the public!
Location: Dreamland Dripping Springs, on the big outdoor stage
Time: January 19, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
The Schedule:
6:30-7:00 – Richard Hanania presents his new book
7:00-7:30 – Caplan interviews Hanania about the book
7:30-8:30 – Ask Me Anything with Hanania, Khan, and Caplan
If you’re unfamiliar with Hanania’s work, I’ve blogged it here, here, here, and here. His work on wokeism has probably won the most attention, but he got his scholarly start in International Relations, and his new book is a major advance in the field. Public Choice Theory and the Illusion of Grand Strategy is not just a critique of the dogmatic “realist” school of international relations. It strongly argues that most countries’ foreign policies are simply incoherent because (a) each interest group (military, defense contractors, human rights groups, bureaucrats, foreign allies) focuses on its own narrow set of issues, and (b) politicians who adjudicate conflicts between these interest groups myopically focus on the next election.
Though Hanania puts “public choice” in the title, I’d say that it is really a book about behavioral political economy. His voters are deeply irrational, his politicians have lots of slack, and a strong-willed leader occasionally destroys a country on a whim. My favorite part is probably his discussion of sanctions, where Hanania argues that (a) sanctions hardly ever work, (b) leaders rarely even try to make sanctions work, (c) sanctions kill lots of innocents, but (d) sanctions prevail because politicians fear war but still want to “do something.” In a word, sanctions are yet another deadly expression of Action Bias – the urge to “do something” even if you know nothing good to do.
More on Hanania early next month. For now, I hope to see y’all at Dreamland on Wednesday!
READER COMMENTS
Phillip Constantine
Jan 13 2022 at 3:54pm
Any livestream or video for those that can’t be there?
Connor Pitts
Jan 13 2022 at 11:50pm
Seconding the video. Any possibility you could record it for those that won’t be there?
TGGP
Jan 14 2022 at 6:31pm
Do you think realism was a more accurate model for pre-modern states that were typically small, surrounded by potentially hostile neighbors, and vulnerable to being taken over if they lost a war? That could produce a selection effect in which only “realist” governments remain standing.
Ed Levin
Jan 19 2022 at 12:05pm
Here’s a question for Mr. Hanania about the current Ukraine crisis.
In a recent podcast with Robert Wright, he points to Ukraine as an issue where the U.S. has acted in an irrationally provocative manner, most egregiously by provoking Russia by expanding NATO to the hilt. And not comprehending that Russia could view America’s policy as aggressive.
Let’s assume he’s right. Does that let Russia off the hook? Let’s be evenhanded. How would Hanania apply his principles to Putin. Isn’t it possible he’s not fully rational? The baseline question is: what if Putin did nothing? No aggressive buildup, and certainly no invasion. Would he really be in a worse position?
Hanania is a fan of political scientist John Mueller, and recently interviewed him about his book “The Stupidity of War.” Wouldn’t it just be stupid of Putin to invade Ukraine – even if you concede the U.S. made serious mistakes?
(Russia is arguably more of a unitary actor than the U.S.- because it’s a dictatorship. Putin’s the decider. But I think Hanania agrees that cuts both ways. A dictator could be rational, or not.)
Matthias
Jan 23 2022 at 2:07am
Keep in mind that Russia had lots of internal protests, just before they invaded the Ukraine.
The foreign adventure might have more to do with being a distraction for domestic Russian consumption, than any foreign power politics.
Of course, multiple forces can be acting at the same time.
Comments are closed.