Constructive Illusions

Eric Grynaviski

Description

Are the best international agreements products of mutual understanding? The conventional wisdom in economics, sociology, and political science is that accurate perceptions of others' interests, beliefs, and ideologies promote cooperation. Obstacles to international cooperation therefore emerge from misperception and misunderstanding. In Constructive Illusions, Eric Grynaviski challenges this conventional wisdom by arguing that when nations wrongly believe they share a mutual understanding, international cooperation is actually more likely, and more productive, than if they had a genuine understanding of each other's position.Mutual understanding can lead to breakdowns in cooperation by revealing intractable conflicts of interest, identity, and ideology. Incorrectly assuming a mutual understanding exists, in contrast, can enhance cooperation by making actors confident that collaborative ventures are in both parties' best interest and that both parties have a reliable understanding of the terms of cooperation. Grynaviski shows how such constructive misunderstandings allowed for cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union between 1972 and 1979.During detente, the superpowers reached more than 150 agreements, established standing consultative committees, regularly held high-level summit meetings, and engaged in global crisis management. The turn from enmity to cooperation was so stark that many observers predicted a permanent end to the Cold War. Why did the superpowers move from confrontation to cooperation? Grynaviski's theory of the role of misunderstanding in cooperation provides an explanation that is significantly different from liberal institutionalist and constructivist approaches. This book's central claim is that states can form what French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing called "a superb agreement based on complete misunderstanding."

Sujets

• Histoire
• Diplomacy
• International relations
• History of the Americas
• History of Europe
• Diplomatie (homonymie)

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 21 août 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801454653
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Constructive Illusions

Constructive Illusions

MisperceivingtheOrigins of International Cooperation

EricGrynaviski

CornellUniversityPress IthacaandLondon

Cornell University Press gratefully acknowledges receipt of a subvention from the George Washington University, which aided in the publication of this book.

Copyright © 2014 by Cornell University

Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,orparts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2014 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Grynaviski, Eric, 1977– author.  Constructive illusions : misperceiving the origins of international cooperation / Eric Grynaviski.  pages cm  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 9780801452062 (cloth : alk. paper)  1. International relations—Philosophy. 2. International cooperation. 3. Miscommunication—Political aspects. 4. Detente. 5. United States— Foreign relations—1969–1974. I. Title.  JZ1318.G799 2014  327.1'1—dc23 2014003190

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Contents

1.WhenCommonKnowledgeIsWrong

2. Dètente

3.TheAntiBallisticMissileTreaty

4.TheDeclineofDètente

Conclusion

Notes References Index

vii

1 16 48 88 119 152

163 185 207

For Mara and Ethan

Acknowledgments

Likemostfirstbooks,thisoneisacollectivemorethananindividual effort. It began with the idea that many in International Relations draw too much on the idea that international politics takes place in an information rich or thick social environment, and that even scholars interested in incom plete information or uncertainty implicitly posit more information or more shared ideas than is usually realized. Converting that idea into a booklength project, however, required a lot of assistance. Countlessfriendsandmentorshavehelpedmeonthisproject.Inpar ticular, I have benefited from comments, discussions, and suggestions from Robert Adcock, Bentley Allan, Michael Barnett, Austin Carson, Ingrid Creppell, Matthew Evangelista, Henry Farrell, Martha Finnemore, Charlie Glaser, Danny Hayes, Ted Hopf, Josh Kertzer, Tim Leucke, Eric MacGilvray, Jennifer Mitzen, Michael Neblo, Daniel Nexon, John Oates, Elizabeth Saunders, Susan Sell, Duncan Snidal, Daniel Verdier, and Clement Wyploscz. A deep debt goes to Randy Schweller and Alexander Thompson, who devoted time and patience seeing this project through

v i i i A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s

to fruition, and especially to Alexander Wendt who served as a mentor, sounding board, and tough critic. He made sure I had the intellectual space to work on a project that, to the end, he disagreed with. He was unusually patient and generous, intellectually and personally. George Washington University also aided me through the University Facilitating Fund. Susan Sell and the Institution for Globalization and International Studies gener ously organized and hosted a book workshop. I am also indebted to the team at Cornell University Press, especially Roger Haydon, for walking me through the publication process with patience and good humor. Mybiggestdebtgoestomyfamily.Mywifehasbeensupportiveofme from the first day of the project, wearing a lot of hats as proofreader, inter locutor, and best friend. She will be glad that, if in finishing this project, she does not have to hear any more about Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Nixon, and Kissinger. This book (and especially the mistakes) is as much her product as it is my own. Our son Ethan was born as the first drafts were being com pleted and is amazingly now four years old. Watching him grow is the best mark of time passed in working on this book. He will be glad if he does not have to wear his Nixon shirt anymore to put me in the mood to write. OnefortunateaspectofresearchontheNixonadministrationisthe growing availability of highquality books that document the Nixon administration’s foreign policy. When I began this book, I spent substantial time working in the archives. By the end of the project, every find I had discovered was available through the Digital National Security Archives or published by the State Department through theForeign Relations of the United Statesseries. The Miller Center also produced easily accessible audio recordings. I include full citations to these documents, although most of them are now available electronically.

Introduction

To be sure, the international order had been founded on a misunderstanding and a misconception.

Henry Kissinger,A World Restored

WhenCaptainCook“discovered”Hawaiiattheendoftheeighteenth century, a remarkable case of cooperation began, perhaps one of the most remarkable in world history. As Marshall Sahlins controversially recounts the story of Cook’s first contact with the Hawaiians, a series of coincidences led the Hawaiians to mistake Cook for Lono, the god of peace, music, and 1 fertility. When theDiscoveryand theResolutionapproached the island of Hawaii, they chanced to circumnavigate it in a clockwise direction that mirrored the mythical process made on land by Lono. Cook’s progression around the island occurred in the same direction and on the same days as predicted by the myth. By this accident, the “islanders knew Captain Cook 2 as ‘Lono’ before they set eyes on him.” When Cook landed at Kealakekua, the Hawaiians dressed him as Lono, wrapping him in a red tapa cloth. Then they offered him a small pig as a sacrifice before ushering him into a temple for a lengthy ritual that culminated in a ceremonial “feeding.” The belief that Cook was Lono was so engrained that more than one hundred years later his bones were carried in the annual religious procession that honored him as a god.