One of Hulsman’s strengths is his ability to provide cutting edge analysis on the broadest range of foreign policy topics. In the tradition of the grand old school of geopolitical thinkers capable of linking seemingly disparate events across continents to create a coherent world view, Hulsman has begun to make sense of the new era. Whether the topic be the horrible effect of neoconservatism upon American foreign policy, transatlantic relations and their discontents, the current crisis in Iraq, the coming crisis in Iran, the endless crisis between Israel and the rest of the Middle East, Hulsman combines an expert eye and one thing more – the ability to understand and explain the links between these titanic problems.
Palgrave, 2009
Lawrence of Arabia is best remembered for the Oscar-winning film about his life. But there is a different T.E. Lawrence, a man who applied his unique experiences and extensive knowledge of the Arab world to a political vision for nation building in the Middle East that holds many lessons for today. Following the Arab Revolt, Lawrence embarked on a heroic effort, harnessing his celebrity to force the British to keep the promises made to their Arab allies. Alas, he was unable to stop the Western powers from carving up the Middle East at Versailles, thus laying the foundations for the ongoing instability in that region. Still, until the day he died, Lawrence continued to fight for Arab nationalism, famously saying: “Better to let them do it imperfectly than do it perfectly yourself, for it is their country, their war, and your time is short.” By weaving together a gripping narrative of Lawrence’s Middle East adventures and highlighting his surprisingly astute political thinking, John Hulsman teases out this and many other lessons to be learned from Lawrence about the Arab world.
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(with A. Wess Mitchell) Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009
The Godfather Doctrine draws clear and essential lessons from perhaps the greatest Hollywood movie ever made to illustrate America's changing geopolitical place in the world and how our country can best meet the momentous strategic challenges it faces.
In the movie The Godfather, Don Corleone, head of New York's most powerful organized-crime family, is shockingly gunned down in broad daylight, leaving his sons Sonny and Michael, along with his adopted son, consigliere Tom Hagen, to chart a new course for the family. In The Godfather Doctrine, John Hulsman and Wess Mitchell show how the aging and wounded don is emblematic of cold-war American power on the decline in a new world where our enemies play by unfamiliar rules, and how the don's heirs uncannily exemplify the three leading schools of American foreign policy today. Tom, the left-of-center liberal institutionalist, thinks the old rules still apply and that negotiation is the answer. Sonny is the Bush-era neocon who shoots first and asks questions later, proving an easy target for his enemies. Only Michael, the realist, has a sure feel for the changing scene, recognizing the need for flexible combinations of soft and hard power to keep the family strong and maintain its influence and security in a dangerous and rapidly changing world.
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(with Anatol Lieven) New York: Pantheon Press, 2006
America today faces a world more complicated than ever before, but both political parties have failed to envision a foreign policy that addresses our greatest threats. As a result, the United States risks lurching from crisis to crisis. The Bush administration's foreign policy strategy is bankrupt, but the Democrats are not providing any real alternatives.
Ethical Realism presents such an alternative, including both a new philosophical basis and a coherent set of detailed, practical and courageous policy recommendations. Anatol Lieven and John Hulsman, two distinguished policy experts from different political camps, have joined forces to write an impassioned manifesto that illuminates a new way forward.
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Book Review: The New York Times
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Wall Street Journal, 29.11.2007
Michael Gerson, long praised (some would say over praised) as President Bush's genius speechwriter, is also, it turns out, a would-be moral philosopher and political strategist. In "Heroic Conservatism," he calls for the Republican Party to redefine itself and brighten its future by casting aside its suspicion of big government and pursuing lofty projects of statist do-goodery. Let us hope that Republicans ignore him. ...
Go to the Article on the WSJ Site
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Stern (German weekly magazine), November 24, 2007.
Go to the Article on the Stern-Site
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Washington Briefing, November 2007
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with Jan Wiechmann, Stern (German Weekly Magazine), November 5, 2007.
International Spiegel Online (Germany), September 11, 2007
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with Howard La Franchi, Christian Science Monitor, October 30, 2007.
presented at the Association of German Banks Reception for the Bundestag Finance Committee, Washington, DC, October 21, 2007.
with Melinda Crane, ‘Quadriga,’ Deutsche Welle (German TV), October 5, 2007.
presented at the annual general meeting of Hilton Hotel Owners, San Francisco, CA, September 25, 2007.
presented to the Army General Command and Staff College, Fort Belvoir, VA, September 21, 2007.
Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), August 4/5, 2007
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The National Interest, no. 90, (July/August 2007); short version reprint: "The End of the British 'Handling' of America", The National Interest Online, May 11, 2007
Go to the short version reprint "The End of the British 'Handling' of America" at National Interest Online
Debate with Ambassador Nancy Soderberg, The Center for the United States and Italy, Venice, (May 2007).
Aspenia (Italy), Yr.12, no.35/36, 2007
Go to the Aspen Institute Italy
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presented at an Aspen Institute Conference, ‘Global Europe: From Rhetoric to the Real World,’ Berlin (March 2007).
presented to the Heritage Conservative Fellows Program, Rayburn House Office Building, Capitol Hill, Washington (February 2007).
presented to the Senior Command Staff College, Fort Belvoir, VA (February 2007).
at an Ethical Realism Book Event, sponsored by the German Foreign MInistry, Berlin (January 2007).
Christian Science Monitor, December 4, 2006.
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(with Anatol Lieven), The National Interest, no. 85, (Fall 2006).
Opendemocracy.net, September 21, 2006.
in: The Other Special Relationship: U.S.-Australia Relations At The Start Of The 21st Century, Jeffrey D. MacCausland and Douglas T. Stuart, eds., (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, September 2006)
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in: US-UK Relations At The Start Of The 21st Century, Jeffrey D. McCausland and Douglas T. Stuart, editors, (Carlisle, PA: US Army War College, 2006).
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(with Alexis Debat), The National Interest, no.84, (Summer 2006).
(with Anatol Lieven), The National Interest, no.80 (Summer 2005).
Testimony Before the full House International Relations Committee, March 8, 2006.
Newsweek Europe (Poland), November 25, 2005.
(with Alexander Skiba), Christian Science Monitor, October 3, 2005.
Handelsblatt, September 25, 2005.
(with William Schirano), The National Interest, no.81, (Fall 2005).
International Politics (DGAP-Berlin), Summer 2005.
(with Nile Gardiner), European Affairs, vol.6 no.1, (Winter/Spring 2005).
Testimony Before the House International Relations Committee, Subcommittee on Europe and Emerging Threats, February 16, 2005.
Opendemocracy.net (London), January 7, 2005.
Opendemocracy.net, December 21, 2004.
Aspenia (Italy), August 13, 2004.
Opendemocracy.net, August 2, 2004.
Opendemocracy.net, July 15, 2004.
Opendemocracy.net, June 20, 2004.
Limes (Italy), vol.2, 2004.
The National Interest, no.75, (Spring 2004).
Lawrence of Arabia is best remembered for the Oscar-winning film about his life. But there is a different T.E. Lawrence, a man who applied his unique experiences and extensive knowledge of the Arab world to a political vision for nation building in the Middle East that holds many lessons for today. Following the Arab Revolt, Lawrence embarked on a heroic effort, harnessing his celebrity to force the British to keep the promises made to their Arab allies. Alas, he was unable to stop the Western powers from carving up the Middle East at Versailles, thus laying the foundations for the ongoing instability in that region. Still, until the day he died, Lawrence continued to fight for Arab nationalism, famously saying: “Better to let them do it imperfectly than do it perfectly yourself, for it is their country, their war, and your time is short.” By weaving together a gripping narrative of Lawrence’s Middle East adventures and highlighting his surprisingly astute political thinking, John Hulsman teases out this and many other lessons to be learned from Lawrence about the Arab world.
Amazon
more...