Imperialism and militarism build empires, not liberalism. So says Christopher Coyne, Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute and professor of economics at George Mason University, in this eye-opening, must-read book on America’s recent foreign policy failures.
The attempt by the United States since 9/11 to establish liberal political regimes in the Middle East and in the mountains of Afghanistan was doomed to fail. And the logic is simple: illiberal means can lead only to illiberal ends.
What else are the hundreds of thousands of dead and mutilated civilians the US military left behind, from 2003 to 2021, in these regions? The destroyed ancient cultures and nearly obliterated nation-states? Coyne also points out that the illiberal perpetrators also can end up, not only nearly bankrupt and humiliated, but also profoundly less secure. If we do not absorb these hard truths, says Coyne, the rest of the twenty-first century will be a repeat of its bloodstained, unstable beginning.
But Coyne is no isolationist. A vocal champion of global engagement, Coyne insists there are workable, proven alternatives to imperialism, militarism, and empire—ones, deeply rooted in human experience, that preserve freedom, promote security, and foster mutually enriching friendship among the nations of the earth. Read In Search of Monsters to Destroy, and you’ll never look at the nation state or international relations the same again.
“With In Search of Monsters to Destroy, Christopher Coyne offers readers a crisp, concise, and devastating indictment of American imperialism. His provocative proposal for a nonviolent ‘polycentric’ approach to national security comes as a welcome bonus.”
“Why go overseas to slay monsters? Whether it’s corruption and cronyism, bureaucratic pathologies and perverse policies, mechanized terror and murderous militarism, the monsters are right here, America. Luckily for us, in In Search of Monsters to Destroy, Coyne faces them down with courage and clarity. So should we.”
“Christopher Coyne has long been the leading voice in economics on the folly of American military interventions overseas. In his remarkable new book, In Search of Monsters to Destroy, he gives unpopular but deeply compelling arguments why such interventions are a threat to liberal values both at home and abroad.”
“Coyne argues in his tightly written examination of America’s global meddling, In Search of Monsters to Destroy, that these interventions almost inevitably cause more harm than good because America lacks both the interest and knowledge to do otherwise. It is not ‘Mission Accomplished’ but ‘Mission Impossible’.”
