The Duck of Minerva

Perle vs. Perle: Perle loses

by Dan Nexon

18 April 2007, 0219 EDT


I am currently watching an hour-long PBS documentary called “The Case for War: In Defense of Freedom”.

I assume this is the “balance” episode of the eleven-part series “America at a Crossroads”, since Richard Perle narrates, debates people, then explains in the voice over why he’s right.

Perle’s arguments range from the sensible to the cynically dishonest. But the amazing thing is that Perle’s losing to his interlocutors in his own documentary.

Perle gets served on jus ad bellum and jus in bello issues by a t-shirt clad anti-war protester. He lamely attempts to caricature his opponent’s arguments–usually with the phrase “so what you’re saying is….” He trots out Abu Nidal as proof of Hussein’s threat to the United States. Kind of pathetic, actually.

He might score some points later. But I have to stop watching. The wife wants to play Okami. Much more attractive… and educational.

image from https://www.trustedreviews.com/gaming/review/2007/02/07/Okami/p1

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Daniel H. Nexon is a Professor at Georgetown University, with a joint appointment in the Department of Government and the School of Foreign Service. His academic work focuses on international-relations theory, power politics, empires and hegemony, and international order. He has also written on the relationship between popular culture and world politics.

He has held fellowships at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation and at the Ohio State University's Mershon Center for International Studies. During 2009-2010 he worked in the U.S. Department of Defense as a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow. He was the lead editor of International Studies Quarterly from 2014-2018.

He is the author of The Struggle for Power in Early Modern Europe: Religious Conflict, Dynastic Empires, and International Change (Princeton University Press, 2009), which won the International Security Studies Section (ISSS) Best Book Award for 2010, and co-author of Exit from Hegemony: The Unraveling of the American Global Order (Oxford University Press, 2020). His articles have appeared in a lot of places. He is the founder of the The Duck of Minerva, and also blogs at Lawyers, Guns and Money.

Website |  + posts

Daniel H. Nexon is a Professor at Georgetown University, with a joint appointment in the Department of Government and the School of Foreign Service. His academic work focuses on international-relations theory, power politics, empires and hegemony, and international order. He has also written on the relationship between popular culture and world politics.

He has held fellowships at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation and at the Ohio State University's Mershon Center for International Studies. During 2009-2010 he worked in the U.S. Department of Defense as a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow. He was the lead editor of International Studies Quarterly from 2014-2018.

He is the author of The Struggle for Power in Early Modern Europe: Religious Conflict, Dynastic Empires, and International Change (Princeton University Press, 2009), which won the International Security Studies Section (ISSS) Best Book Award for 2010, and co-author of Exit from Hegemony: The Unraveling of the American Global Order (Oxford University Press, 2020). His articles have appeared in a lot of places. He is the founder of the The Duck of Minerva, and also blogs at Lawyers, Guns and Money.

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