Reconsidering Woodrow Wilson: Progressivism, Internationalism, War, and Peace by JOHNMILTON COOPER,Review by: G. JOHN IKENBERRYForeign Affairs, Vol. 88, No. 3 (May/June 2009), pp. 167-168Published by: Council on Foreign RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20699573 .

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Recent Books

on International Relations

Political and Legal G. JOHN IKENBERRY

Catastrophic Consequences: Civil Wars and American Interests, by steven r.

david. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008, 224 pp. $50.00.

In the post-Cold War world, war between states has been extraordinarily rare, but

civil war and armed conflict within states has been widespread. Indeed, in the last two decades, fully one-third of all coun

tries have endured some form of civil conflict. In this sobering study, David

argues that domestic upheaval and state

collapse are replacing rising states and

great-power rivalry as the chief threats to U.S. interests and global security. In one sense, this book offers an eloquent statement of a widely shared view?

namely, that in the age of terrorism and

weapons of mass destruction, it is the weak

ness of states, rather than their strength, that is most threatening. What is dis

tinctive about Davids book is its focus on four critical states?China, Mexico,

Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia?in which civil war or political upheaval could "unleash catastrophic harms that transform

global politics and endanger vital American interests." In each case, David sketches

a portrait of regime breakdown and ensuing chaos. Blazing oil fields, loose nuclear

weapons, refugee floods, and great-power

collapse are catastrophes that could upend

global stability and bring peddlers of violence to the United States' doorstep.

Provocatively, David argues that spreading democracy or intervening to build better states are not good options. Rather, civil

war must be seen as a problem akin to

natural disasters: you assume disasters will

occur and prepare for the worst.

Reconsidering Woodrow Wilson:

Progressivism, Internationalism, War, andPeace. edited by john milton

cooper, jr. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008,376 pp. $60.00.

For almost a hundred years, Woodrow

Wilson s ideas have cast a shadow over

U.S. foreign policy. As Henry Kissinger has observed, it is "to the drumbeat of

Wilsonian idealism that American foreign

policy has marched since his watershed

presidency and continues to march to

this day." This volume, a collection of

essays to mark Wilsons 150th birthday in

2006, provides an assessment of his legacy in progressive politics and international affairs. Cooper, a leading Wilson scholar,

argues that Wilson s greatest triumphs and greatest failings came in his dealings

[167]

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Recent Books

with Congress. He was "one of the great est legislative leaders ever to sit in the

White House," overseeing the passage of historic progressive legislation but also

presiding over the defeat of his beloved

League of Nations. Other scholars take

up Wilsons achievements in the areas of economic reform, race, and free speech, with one author noting that Wilson was indeed the architect of modern liberalism but was also deeply unenlightened in regard to race relations or social justice. In foreign affairs, Lloyd Ambrosius explores how

Wilsons racism shaped his approach to international relations, arguing that his idea of democracy did not affirm racial

equality. Several authors, most directly Anne-Marie Slaughter, take up the thorny

question of whether Wilson was at heart

a liberal interventionist laying the intel lectual groundwork for future imperial adventures. Most of the authors resist

this view, stressing Wilsons vision of a world community of states organized around the rule of law. Cooper tries to settle the matter, arguing that Wilsons famous utterance in his war address?"The

world must be made safe for democracy"? was expressed in the passive voice precisely to indicate that he was not advocating that democracy should be imposed.

this old and troubling danger. A political theorist by training, Signer frames his

inquiry around the insights of thinkers?

Aristotle, Thomas Jefferson, Alexis de

Tocqueville, Leo Strauss, and Hannah

Arendt?who grappled with the sources and the fragility of governance by the

people. Along the way, the book offers

portraits of some of history's most infa

mous tyrants, including Cleon, the ancient

Greek general; Adolf Hitler; Benito

Mussolini; and such petty demagogues as U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy and

U.S. General Douglas MacArthur. Signer

argues that the ability of democracies to resist demagogues hinges not on economic

conditions or the design of institutions but on "the people" and whether or not

they possess "constitutional conscience."

In this sense, the book echoes Tocqueville s contention that liberal mores and tradi

tions within society are the bedrock of

democracy. Signer ends with some sensible

suggestions on how the United States

might help cultivate constitutional values in countries undergoing democratic

transitions?especially engaging civil

society groups and promoting education

and development. But he does not really establish the clain> that outside states can make a difference.

Demagogue: The Fight to Save Democracy From Its Worst Enemies, by michael

signer. Palgrave Macmillan, 2009,

272 pp. $26.95. Democratic states have periodically been threatened by demagogues?political figures who fashion themselves as leaders of the people but in fact use the levers of

government to establish autocratic rule.

In this intriguing book, Signer explores the intellectual and historical aspects of

Complex Sovereignty: Reconstituting Political Authority in the Twenty-first Century, edited by edgar grande

and louis w. pauly. University of

Toronto Press, 2007, 360 pp. $27.95. This book is part of an ambitious under

taking by a group of Canadian scholars to map the ways globalization is altering political and social institutions. According to Grande and Pauly, the most funda

mental struggle occurring across the world

[l68] FOREIGN AFFAIRS Volume88No.j

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