Sands of Empire: Missionary Zeal, American Foreign Policy, and the Hazards of Global Ambition

Anyone who has read such books as "The Rise of the Vulcans", "The Pentagon's New Map", Bernard Lewis' "What Went Wrong? The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East", and "Where The Right Went Wrong" by Patrick Buchanan will find Merry's "Sands of Empire" a thoughtful synthesis of some of the issues raised by the above books and the Francis Fukuyama Samual Huntington debate. A CSPAN interview with Merry peaked my interest and this fast read did not disappoint. A must read!

This excellent book makes clear that American democracy is not right for every country specifically because every country is unique. As president and Publisher of Congressional Quarterly and a former Wall Street Journal reporter, Robert Merry is closely acquainted with government trappings. Even European democracies have cultural nuances from the American model. Attempting to require conformity to 'our' way of doing things only engenders suspicion, distrust, and then hatred. We should then not be surprised when the nations rebel against 'Colonial Democracy' or why. Our desire to control other countries earns us the moniker of 'bully'. Those people only want the right to have their own nation run by their own cultural values, a standard which had ironically founded America. Our 'missteps' in the middle east actually provide further justification for the anti-American sentiment; we are then living up to what their culture previously had said about American democracy and Americans. Reading this book I thought about the 1960's cold war. We were then-attempting to convince 'third world' nations that embracing American democracy was the right move for security and prosperity. We became locked into the Vietnam War because our then-government did not want Southeast Asia to have a communist form of government. We were also condescending to those nations because we earnestly had believed that America knew what was best for everybody else in the world. Sadly, I must concede that the current administration (including a PhD Secretary of State) has not absorbed those lessons--or read this book. Merry explicitly writes about the current fiasco in Iraq and the Middle East, but he invokes American and world histories to demonstrate the ultimate timelessness of his thesis.

Anyone who fashions oneself a student of politics, political theory, history and foreign policy should read this book. For those of us who have neglected generations of great thinkers whose ideas guide practical uses for political science and theory, this is also an accessible refresher. Robert Merry shows respect to his readers by never underestimating our intelligence. That said, he never overestimates the information we have to use it. That makes "Sands of Empire" both stimulating and enlightening. He has crafted a circumspect and understandable, description of recent American foreign policy with perspectives that analyze the evolution of society, role of culture, forces of history, and the demands of political expediency. Here, also, is the previously missing coherent and accessible explanation of the crisis in the Balkans, the Somalian catastrophe, the post 9/11 era, and the diplomatic history of the 20th Century and the responses to it that helps put those events in perspective. He invokes the lesser known but important political philosophers and the self-proclaimed intellectual giants of our time. Along side are the truly important contributers and the narcissistic intellegencia and the self important - overall, a veritable who's who of thinkers and players on the international and American diplomatic and political scene. Merry makes us pay attention, but there's good reason to all of this. Understanding foreign policy, like studying Kafka, is neither simple nor constant. (I once read a Kafka scholar who insisted that only he understood Kafka. In that light, who really has the monopoly on foreign policy expertise?) But Merry has done exhaustive research which pays off in a very coherent and informative text. His work makes the tools to analyze policy and events accessible. His insight brings readers relevant history along side the ideas and commentary of important thinkers. Whether one believes in the Idea of Progress or any of a variety of competing theories, we can complete Sands of Empire much better prepared to think about the future. I suspect that a decade or two from now readers will wonder why it wasn't so obvious. Glenn Koocher Cambridge, MA

The book was for the author a labor of agitation. The book raises provocative and troubling questions. There are many hazards in the world today and additional hazards in how our country is dealing with these hazards. When we need less saber rattling, we now have more saber rattling. I think it can be argued that our leadership is not up to the task at hand. I think it also be argued that our under-educated electorate is not up to the task at hand of putting our best citizens into roles of leadership. Based upon the facts and analysis in this excellent book we may have no choice but to be pessimistic as we continue to put our heads in the sand.

Anyone who fashions oneself a student of politics, political theory, history and foreign policy should read this book. Robert Merry shows respect to his readers by never underestimating our intelligence. That said, he never overestimates the information we have to use it. That makes Sands of Empire both stimulating and enlightening. He has crafted a circumspect and understandable, but not necessarily definitive, description of recent American foreign policy in the context of the evolution of society, role of culture, forces of history, and the demands of political expediency. Here, also, is the previously missing coherent explanation of the crisis in the Balkans, the Somalian catastrophe, the post 9/11 era, and the diplomatic history of the 20th Century and the responses to it that helps put those events in perspective. He invokes the lesser known but important political philosophers and the self-proclaimed intellectual giants of our time. Along side are the truly important contributers and the narcissistic intellegencia and the self important - overall, a veritable who's who of thinkers and players on the international and American diplomatic and political scene. Merry makes us pay attention, but there's good reason to all of this. Understanding foreign policy, like studying Kafka, is neither simple nor constant. (I once read a Kafka scholar who insisted that only he understood Kafka. In that light, who really has the monopoly on foreign policy expertise?) But Merry has done exhaustive research which pays off in a very coherent and informative text. His work makes the tools to analyze policy and events accessible. His insight brings readers relevant history along side the ideas and commentary of important thinkers. Glenn Koocher Cambridge, MA