Revenge of the Realists

An interesting article in Reason about the return of the realist argument to foreign policy. All the kids wanna be like Bismarck! My problem with realism, beyond the fact that it's just a nice way of saying that you don't give a rats ass about people, is that it doesn't fucking work. Oh, the balance of power is great for a while, but then something happens to upset things and then what happens? World War One. Ah, the trenches, the foot rot, the mustard gas.

And as much fun as the cold war was (because who didn't enjoy Dr. Strangelove?), I haven't been so keen on the fallout (the Balkans, DR Congo, and everyone's favourite, the Taliban).

What does work? Democracy, free markets, rule of law, civil society. For everyone. Not sometimes, always. Not just in the west, everywhere.