1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910345147503321

Autore

Runciman David

Titolo

The politics of good intentions [[electronic resource] ] : history, fear, and hypocrisy in the new world order / / David Runciman

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Princeton, : Princeton University Press, c2006

ISBN

1-282-15869-4

9786612158698

1-4008-2712-4

Edizione

[Course Book]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (223 p.)

Classificazione

15.50

Disciplina

973.931

Soggetti

Political science - Philosophy

World politics - 21st century

September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001 - Influence

Great Britain Politics and government 1997-2007

United States Politics and government 2001-2009

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Preface -- CHAPTER ONE. Introduction: September 11 and the New World Order -- PART ONE: Tony Blair, History and Risk -- CHAPTER TWO. Tony Blair and the Politics of Good Intentions -- CHAPTER THREE. Taking a Chance on War: The Worst-Case Scenarios -- CHAPTER FOUR. Taking a Chance on War: Suez and Iraq -- CHAPTER FIVE. Who Knows Best? -- CHAPTER SIX. Weimar Iraq -- PART TWO: Britain, Europe and the United States -- CHAPTER SEVEN. A Bear Armed with a Gun -- CHAPTER EIGHT. The Garden, the Park, the Meadow -- CHAPTER NINE. Two Revolutions, One Revolutionary -- CHAPTER TEN. Epilogue: Virtual Politics -- Notes -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Tony Blair has often said that he wishes history to judge the great political controversies of the early twenty-first century--above all, the actions he has undertaken in alliance with George W. Bush. This book is the first attempt to fulfill that wish, using the long history of the modern state to put the events of recent years--the war on terror, the war in Iraq, the falling out between Europe and the United States--in their proper perspective. It also dissects the way that politicians like



Blair and Bush have used and abused history to justify the new world order they are creating. Many books about international politics since 9/11 contend that either everything changed or nothing changed on that fateful day. This book identifies what is new about contemporary politics but also how what is new has been exploited in ways that are all too familiar. It compares recent political events with other crises in the history of modern politics--political and intellectual, ranging from seventeenth-century England to Weimar Germany--to argue that the risks of the present crisis have been exaggerated, manipulated, and misunderstood. David Runciman argues that there are three kinds of time at work in contemporary politics: news time, election time, and historical time. It is all too easy to get caught up in news time and election time, he writes. This book is about viewing the threats and challenges we face in real historical time.