In Kagan’s view Europe had even decided to draw down its defense spending because, in the most generous interpretation, they genuinely saw war as something that was no longer possible. A more cynical explanation was that European governments believed they could outsource their defense—including their defense spending—to the United States. In Kagan’s view, America was, by contrast, fated to be stuck in history. The world’s superpower was not able to live in this Kantian peace or even dream these Kantian dreams. The US was destined to stay in a Hobbesian world in which might still mattered, and
...more
