Advice to War Presidents: A Remedial Course in Statecraft

by Angelo M. Codevilla

“War presidents” are hardly exceptional in modern American history. To a greater or lesser extent, every president since Wilson has been a War President. Each has committed our country to the pursuit of peace, yet involved us in a seemingly endless series of wars—conflicts that the American foreign policy establishment has generally made worse. The chief reason, argues Angelo Codevilla in Advice to War Presidents, is that America’s leaders have habitually imagined the world as they wished it to be rather than as it is: They acted under the assumptions that war is not a normal tool of statecraft but a curable disease, and that all the world’s peoples wish to live as Americans do. As a result, our leaders have committed America to the grandest of ends while constantly subverting their own goals.Employing many negative examples from the Bush II administration but also ranging widely over the last century, Advice to War Presidents offers a primer on the unchanging principles of foreign policy. Codevilla explains the essentials—focusing on realities such as diplomacy, alliances, war, economic statecraft, intelligence, and prestige, rather than on meaningless phrases like “international community,” “peacekeeping” and “collective security.” Not a realist, neoconservative, or a liberal internationalist, Codevilla follows an older tradition: that of historians like Thucydides, Herodotus, and Winston Churchill—writers who analyzed international affairs without imposing false categories.

Advice to War Presidents is an effort to talk our future presidents down from their rhetorical highs and get them to practice statecraft rather than wishful thinking, lest they give us further violence.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

336 pages, Hardcover

First published March 23, 2008

About the author

Angelo M. Codevilla is professor emeritus of international relations at Boston University. Educated at Rutgers (1965) Notre Dame (1968), and the Claremont graduate university (1973), Codevilla served in the US Navy, the US Foreign Service, and on the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He taught philosophy at Georgetown, classified intelligence matters at the US Naval Post graduate School. During a decade at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, he wrote books on war, intelligence, and the character of nations. At Boston University, he taught international relations from the perspectives of history and character.

Reviews

[Isabel Rasmussen · Rating 4 out of 5]

for my American foreign policy class which has been quite scary so far...This book pretty much argues against everything I learned in ib global politics, but it was super interesting. A lot of his arguments and points were very relevant to current politics in the US despite being 15 years old, which was cool. Also, there was SOOO much I didn't know about US foreign policy. Definitely a different perspective to what I was used to when talking about global issues, as it's quite cynical, somewhat isolationist, and is opposed to the idea of any kind of "global community", but still a useful POV and good book overall.

[Brendan Steinhauser · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for international affairs students, professors and professionals. Codevilla is his usual insightful, clear and persuasive self. I really enjoyed this book, although his book "War: Ends and Means" was better.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed -- lots of important ideas that challenge conventional wisdom in ways we need in today's dangerous world. Codevilla calls us back to the basics of common sense and objective reality.

[J. D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incisive study of the failure of nearly all American presidents from Wilson on to treat war with the seriousness it deserves.

[Randal White · Rating 1 out of 5]

Garbage. If you believe this book, everything that has been done in foreign policy for the last 50 years has been wrong.

[Jonathan Quirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent framework for analyzing foreign relations.