Democracy in Exile - (United States in the World) by Daniel Bessner

About the Book

Anyone interested in the history of U.S. foreign relations, Cold War history, and twentieth century intellectual history will find this impressive biography of Hans Speier, one of the most influential figures in American defense circles of the twentieth century, a must-read.In Democracy in Exile, Daniel Bessner shows how the experience of the...

Book Synopsis

In Democracy in Exile, Daniel Bessner explores the life of Hans Speier, one of the most significant figures in the history of U.S. defense policy.
Bessner traces Speier's intellectual development from Weimar Germany to the Cold War United States, revealing how his European roots shaped the expert-driven approach to foreign policymaking that American elites institutionalized during and after World War II. A key figure in a transatlantic network of émigré policymakers and analysts, Speier helped establish novel institutions such as the RAND Corporation that transformed how U.S. foreign policy was made.

Democracy in Exile highlights how social scientists like Speier left academia to create a "military-intellectual complex" that insulated American decision making from public opinion and that continues to shape U.S. defense policy today.

Review Quotes

Democracy in Exile is directly relevant to a number of contemporary debates, not just about foreign policy but on the nature of politics itself.

-- "Los Angeles Review of Books"

A vital contribution and vivid portrait of hans Spier.

-- "Journal of American History"

Bessner werite about his subject with sympathy and insight... Democracy in Exile should also be read by those who fear that democracy is again under threat all over the world.

-- "Technology and Culture"

Bessner's archival work has turned up many gems.

-- "The Globe Post"

Bessner's biography of Speier is an excellent case study of a transatlantic crossing linking Europe's interwar crises with America's permanent national security state.

-- "American Historical Review"

Speier began his academic career studying the sociology of knowledge, and after he arrived in the United States, he directed the US government's propaganda effort against Germany. The debates recounted in Bessner's biography between Speier and other officials over how to develop effective campaigns are particularly fascinating in the context of contemporary worries about information warfare.

-- "Foreign Affairs"

A revealing look at a thinker burned by populist upheaval who worried that 'man's nature makes the realization of the good order impossible.'

-- "Shepherd Express"

An honest and impressively compiled reminder to policy-oriented givers, grant recipients, and policymakers about some of the concerning anti-democratic roots of modern establishment philanthropy--and its understanding of the relationship between knowledge and power.

-- "Real Clear Books"

Bessner's Democracy in Exile, therefore, stacks up with the best in contemporary history that is powerfully relevant to current debates concerning foreign policy. The book shows how and why it is important to think carefully about democracy and the role scholars and intellectuals contribute to its survival.

-- "H-Net"

This book skillfully navigates between an argument for Speier's historical importance and a critique of his ideas.

-- "German History"

About the Author

Daniel Bessner is the Anne H. H. and Kenneth B. Pyle Assistant Professor in American Foreign Policy in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington.