Foreign Follies: America's New Global Empire 
Paperback – October 14, 2006
by Doug Bandow (Author)

The United States once was a traditional republic, remaining aloof from foreign conflicts. Today no problem on earth is exempt from Washington's meddling. The result is an oversize military, perpetual intervention, and consistent conflict. It's time for a new foreign policy.


Foreign Follies: America's New Global Empire

About the Author

Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. and a nationally syndicated columnist with Copley News Service. He is the author of "The Politics of Plunder, "and has written special features for "The New Republic; Harper's; The New York Times; "and "The Washington Post. "James C. Miller, chair of Citizen's for a Sound Economy, sums it up best; "Bandow is original and provocative. He really makes you think about the challenges of our time."

 

Customer Reviews

An Entirely Appropriate Title
By B. L. Carpenter on May 3, 2007
Foreign Follies, a collection of Doug Bandow's columns and articles on U.S. foreign policy over the past decade, is an incisive diagnosis of what has gone so terribly wrong with America's position in the world. It is also an even-handed, bipartisan analysis. Bandow criticizes the faulty policies of Democratic and Republican administrations alike. He makes a compelling case that a more cautious, coherent security strategy would better serve the interests of the American people. Over the years, Bandow has shown himself to be one of America's most astute experts on foreign affairs, and it is gratifying to see his prescient analyses gathered in one place. Foreign Follies is a valuable book, and it deserves to have a wide audience.

Not So Foreign Follies
By Kiddo on February 22, 2007
Bandow's work reveals one folly of any critique of US foreign policy is that the addled thinking is not limited to the past few years or the current administration. Drawing on his career of assessing foreign policy across the globe, Bandow showcases his astounding scope of expertise and insight - providing a cohesive point of view that brings sanity to any review of US foreign policy in the past -- and in the future. A must-read for every policy wonk, and every American.

Pulls no punches
By C. V. Pena on March 19, 2007
Because of the Iraq fiasco, it is fashionable to blame the Bush administration for being the Ziegfeld of America's foreign policy folly. True enough, Iraq may be the height of U.S. folly -- an unnecessary war against a phantom threat that has given jihadists a convenient target in their own neighborhood, created greater anti-American sentiment throughout the Muslim world, and threatens to break the U.S. Army -- but such folly is not the sole purview of the Bush administration. In Foreign Follies, Doug Bandow has assembled a collection of essays that span more than a decade to demonstrate that U.S. foreign policy run amok pre-dates the current White House, but that the Bush administration has made things worse. Bandow chronicles unnecessary U.S. interventionist policy in Europe, the Balkans, Asia, and the Middle East. Of course, he devotes an entire chapter to Iraq -- the mother of all unnecessary U.S. interventions. Not only does Bandow make the case that U.S. foreign policy -- Bush and Clinton, Republican and Democrat, conservative and liberal -- makes us less safe, but that it undermines the foundations of our republic. The real folly is that Bandow's voice is drowned by the shrill cries of partisan politicians and pundits who place self-interest ahead of the well-being our the country.

An Excellent Analysis
By Bill on February 23, 2007
Given the times in which we live, it is easy to why hindsight continues to be the preferred tool of analysis for many of our leaders in Washington. For the remainder of us however, foresight, though not always accurate, is a more important goal despite the always unpopular political ramifications. That is where Dr. Doug Bandow comes in. Foreign follies almost cries out, 'I hate to say I told you so,' setting-up a tragic review of America's foreign (and domestic) policy follies. Should you decide to pick-up this excellent book, perhaps you will make the wise decision to seek out Dr. Bandow's columns ([...]) for a more holistic analysis of the state of U.S. foreign policy. Indeed, the business of foreign affairs is not about one's favorites, but rather the analysis that must often be complete, and most importantly, accurate. Anything less needlessly places lives at risk--something Dr. Bandow and a handful of other analysts are obviously keenly aware of.

Definitive Statement on How Real Conservatives Despise Bush Lies and Cheney High Crimes
By Robert David STEELE Vivas HALL OF FAME on August 11, 2007
Published in 2006, this collection of essays ranges from the late 1990's to its year of publication, and I was quite astonished to discover two things fairly quickly into the work:
First, the author is a conservative--a true conservative--and firmly opposed to what he calls "promiscuous intervention" or elective wars or global rampant empire-building. I was expecting a left of center diatribe against the follies of the Bush-Cheney Administration. Not so. The author is consistent--he railed against the follies of the Clinton-Clinton Administration first, and this followed over.
Second, as an estranged moderate Republican who believes in fiscal conservatism, a small government, and not supporting dictators or decadent despots like the debauched Saudi "royal" family of swindlers, pedophiles, and perverts, I was stunned to find my conservative roots reaffirmed, and the neo-conservatives, the false conservatives, soundly lambasted for their chicken-hawk enlargement of the military-industrial complex.
The author opens early with the statement that America is no longer a Republic, and I completely agree. The author, affiliated with the Cato Institute, has given me a new and deeper appreciation for that organization's intellectual and constitutional line of reasoning.
The early part of the book is a superb collection of varied arguments for completely avoiding foreign adventurism that enriches a few in the military-industrial complex, at three great costs:
1) Loss of lives and limbs among our brave troops;
2) Loss of natural treasure we cannot space on others
3) Loss of morality and rise of vulnerability to hatred occasioned by our foreign presence
The latter point merits special emphasis.
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