American Interests, American Purpose - (Washington Papers) by George Weigel (Hardcover)

About the Book

American Interests, Amercan Purpose explores the relationship between moral norms and U.S. foreign policy. The book does not so much attempt to provide a theoretical framework for the ongoing debate of morality and foreign policy as to examine four different controversial aspects of the argument. Weigel begins with a discussion of the cultural Protestant moralism that characterized Woodrow Wilson's approach to world politics. Here, the author suggests that the discussion involves the fundamental question, What is morality or moral reasoning? The book goes on to examine the pressures put on the foreign policy debate by the rise of modern totalitarianism. Weigel examines the modern cleric's arguments against nuclear deterrents. Finally, the book sketches the moral, strategic, and empirical case for U.S. foreign policy in which support for indigenous democratic forces throughout the world has a high priority.

Book Synopsis

American Interests, Amercan Purpose explores the relationship between moral norms and U.S. foreign policy. The book does not so much attempt to provide a theoretical framework for the ongoing debate of morality and foreign policy as to examine four different controversial aspects of the argument. Weigel begins with a discussion of the cultural Protestant moralism that characterized Woodrow Wilson's approach to world politics. Here, the author suggests that the discussion involves the fundamental question, What is morality or moral reasoning? The book goes on to examine the pressures put on the foreign policy debate by the rise of modern totalitarianism. Weigel examines the modern cleric's arguments against nuclear deterrents. Finally, the book sketches the moral, strategic, and empirical case for U.S. foreign policy in which support for indigenous democratic forces throughout the world has a high priority.

Review Quotes

"George Weigel has done us all a great service by illuminating the points of tangency between today's foreign policy dilemmas and contemporary moral thinking. The latter too often becomes either irrelevant or simplistic when it touches foreign policy problems. Weigel is, on the contrary, sensible, rigorous, and humane--and is gifted with a graceful prose style to boot. Reinhold Niebuhr and John Courtney Murray have found a worthy intellectual heir."-R. James Woolsey Former Under Secretary of the U.S. Navy Partner in Law, Shea and Gardner

"George Weigel provides four provocative and stimulating essays that will help to inform our national debate on critical moral issues in American foreign policy."-Joseph S. Nye, Jr. Director, Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University Author of Nuclear Ethics

About the Author

GEORGE WEIGEL is the President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. He was a 1984-1985 fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and has served as a consultant to members of Congress, officials of the executive branch, and religious leaders on issues of ethics and U.S. foreign policy.