Customer Reviews

The Godfather Doctrine: A Foreign Policy Parable

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This is an excellent book. The authors use the movie "The Godfather" as a very clever analogy to explain their view on U.S. foreign policy. This is not your average lofty academic rant. It is refreshingly interesting and easy to read and understand. It is a great introduction to the three schools of thought on U.S. foreign policy: Neoconservatives, Liberal Institutionalists, and Realists.

I was most impressed by how the authors kept things interesting. By using comparisons from the movie, they make it very easy to come away with a pretty good understanding of the three different foreign policy camps. I think books like this are great because they reach such a broad audience. Both academics and the average person will find this to be a good read. I happen to agree with their common-sense conclusions. Whether you agree or not I think you will find it very thought provoking.

This book is really an extended essay based on an article previously published by the authors. Even so it is interesting and well written. They use the movie The Godfather to explain the three main approaches to foreign policy: Liberal-institutionalism, neoconservatism, and realism. The authors favour realism as the best approach, but they are evenhanded towards the other two pointing out both strengths and weaknesses.

The book is divided into three sections. The first section is an introduction that explains the authors' intent, the world situation, and why the movie The Godfather makes for a good comparison. The main body of the text covers the three approaches and why in the end realism provides a better approach than the others. The authors feel that realism would allow the US to approach the world with calculation in its use of diplomacy and/or force depending on the situation. This they say is similar to how Michael Corleone goes about dealing with the challenges he faces in the movie. The final chapter attempts to answer some criticisms of their previous work and to offer some policy prescriptions to illustrate their points. While I do not necessarily agree with all of their policy recommendations, the authors do provide support for their reasoning in a persuasive manner.

This is a fun and easy read. It should be enjoyed by both those interested in politics and international relations and fans of the movie. Even if you disagree with the authors' views it is a great jumping off point for thought and discussion.

Slow, fact setting opening, but necessary. Take your time reading it the first time through. After the part about Tom Hagen, you pretty much have to finish it all.

Great read, it's worth taking a look at.