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Preface
- Brookings Institution Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Foreign policy is a matter of perspective, and my perspective changed decisively during the period in which the ideas expressed here germinated.As a senior U.S. Treasury official in 2001, I began with a front seat at the creation of the Millennium Challenge Account, the invasion and subsequent administration of Iraq, and U.S. development policymaking under the Bush administration , more generally. But just like those celebrities who enjoy front-row seats at the theatre or ballet, I could see only part of the action.Although dramatic impact is maximized, proximity can be distorting and shadows can pass for reality. How all the parts fit together is obscured—a reason the critics prefer the front balcony seats. Nevertheless, the front-row-seat location enjoyed by elite spectators can influence how others appreciate the show, and their reactions can become part of the spectacle itself. When they clap, the rest of the audience soon follows their lead. In 2002 I moved to the back of the auditorium and resumed my career as an academic international policy specialist. My response to events no longer had any hope of influencing others in the audience. The media were no longer interested in what I had to say; public-opinion makers were less likely to seek me out; and invitations to the homes of ambassadors came less frequently. But I enjoyed other advantages, particularly those of being able to read and reflect. I started by reading the works of other scholars on U.S. foreign policy while in residence at California’s Claremont colleges. But the literature on international relations seemed too often influenced by passion and partisanship, much of the writing geared to supporting one side or the other, expressing admiration, disapproval, or contempt. Preface, or the Genesis of a Perspective ix Still unsatisfied, I explored another perspective after joining the faculty at George Mason University in 2006. I immersed myself in studies of complexity in various sciences often far removed from current events. What I offer here is an adaptive evolutionary perspective in which dispersed and decentralized networks of agents interact constantly and strategically. The agents are not the states as unitary actors of traditional international relations theory but are representatives of firms, ethnicities, or individuals that compete or cooperate among themselves, forming new rules in anticipation of what the other agents will do. The order that emerges is an irreversible outcome of continuous feedback and communication among the agents. People who care about foreign policy care about it passionately and that passion was clearly evident in the support I received writing this book. Enthusiastic yet exacting research support came from a cohort of dedicated young professionals that included Philip Baxter, Drew Edge, Ayesha Hashim, Yan Li, Somjita Mitra, Shaijumon C. S., Cheryl Van Den Handel, Ha T. T. Vu, and Chunjuan Wei. The Mercatus Center at George Mason University organized a one-day seminar that transformed the manuscript into a book. The participants were Paul Dragos Aligica, Ray Bowen, Patrick Cronin, Steven Hook, Maryann Cusimano Love, John Mueller, Henry Nau, Margaret Polski, Joseph Siegle, Mario Villarreal, Ming Wan, Richard Wagner, and Ronald Wintrobe. Special thanks to Jack Goldstone, my colleague at George Mason, for moderating and Claire Morgan and Rob Herritt for administrating and organizing the event. International policy specialists Jacek Kugler, Jack Goldstone, Carol Lancaster, Robert Looney, Hung M. Nguyen, Nancy Overholt, Karti Sandilya, Rachel Stohl, and Melissa Thomas read and commented on all or part of the manuscript. An article that appeared in National Interest has become chapter 11. I thank the editors for permission to use the material. I also owe a considerable debt to Dinah McNichols, who substantively edited the entire manuscript , and Susan Steiner, who helped find the right tone at a very early stage in the writing. At Brookings Institution Press, Christopher Kelaher and Janet Walker have been delightful to work with. I thank them all for keeping my spirits up during a period of isolation, concentration, and self-absorption and, of course, self-doubt—hazards that all writers face. Preface x ...