The Hell of Good Intentions: America’s Foreign Policy Elite and the Decline of U.S. Primacy

Over the past quarter century, U.S. foreign policy has been nothing if not ambitious: from fighting terrorists and spreading democracy to toppling adversaries and expanding security guarantees, Washington has spent trillions abroad. The results, Harvard Kennedy School Professor Stephen Walt argues, have been deeply disappointing. But why?

In his new book, The Hell of Good Intentions: America’s Foreign Policy Elite and the Decline of U.S. Primacy, Professor Walt exposes the inner workings of the foreign policy elite across the Bush, Clinton, and Obama administrations and shows how they have been able to avoid accountability, keep discredited ideas and policies in vogue, and maintain influence despite past blunders. Walt asserts that their recurring failures are a big reason why Donald Trump was elected.

This is not a partisan account. Both Democrats and Republicans have pursued a misguided strategy of “liberal hegemony.” Walt contends that U.S. interests would be better served by focusing our military commitments on maintaining a balance of power in Europe, East Asia, and the Persian Gulf, and by eschewing the use of force to spread democracy or dictate local politics.

Walt offers his take on what U.S. foreign policy should look like, including offshore balancing, bringing back diplomacy, and making peace a priority. He addresses leading objections to these ideas and calls on politicians to deliver the foreign policy that the majority of Americans want and deserve.