1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910787546303321

Autore

Serfaty Simon

Titolo

Architects of delusion [[electronic resource] ] : Europe, America, and the Iraq War / / Simon Serfaty

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Philadelphia, Pa., : University of Pennsylvania Press

[Bristol, : University Presses Marketing, distributor], c2008

ISBN

0-8122-0342-9

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (181 p.)

Disciplina

327.4073

Soggetti

Iraq War, 2003-2011

Great Britain Foreign relations 1997-

United States Foreign relations 2001-2009

France Foreign relations 1995-

Germany Foreign relations 1990-

Great Britain Politics and government 1997-2007

United States Politics and government 2001-2009

France Politics and government 1995-2007

Germany Politics and government 1990-

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- CONTENTS -- Introduction -- CHAPTER ONE. Terms of Estrangement -- CHAPTER TWO. Terms of Endearment -- CHAPTER THREE. Terms of Disparagement -- CHAPTER FOUR. Terms of Entanglement -- NOTES -- INDEX -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Sommario/riassunto

The commencement of war in Iraq in 2003 was met with a variety of reactions around the globe. In Architects of Delusion, Simon Serfaty presents a historical analysis of how and why the decision to wage war was endorsed by some of America's main European allies, especially Britain, and opposed by others, especially France and Germany. Tony Blair, George W. Bush, Jacques Chirac, and Gerhard Schroeder were, Serfaty argues, the architects of one of the most serious crises in postwar transatlantic relations. These four heads of state were the victims not only of their personal delusions but also of those of the



nations they led. They all played the hand that their countries had dealt them-the forceful hand of a righteous America, the principled acquiescence of a faithful Britain, the determined intransigence of a quarrelsome France, and the ambiguous "new way" of a recast Germany. Serfaty's deft interweaving of the political histories and cultures of the four countries and the personalities of their leaders transcends the Europe-bashing debate sparked by the Iraq invasion. He contends that not one of these four leaders was entirely right or entirely wrong in his approach to the others or to the issues, before and during the war. For the resulting wounds to heal, though, and for the continuity of transatlantic relations, he reminds us that the United States and France must end their estrangement, France and Britain must resolve their differences, Germany must carry its weight relative to both France and Britain, and the United States must exert the same visionary leadership for the twenty-first century that it showed during its rise to preeminence in the twentieth century.