"The Godfather" Doctrine
For all you film-world-meets-international-relations geeks, there is an interesting article by John C. Hulsman and A. Wess Mitchell in the Los Angeles Times on the "Godfather Doctrine":
It is one of the best-known scenes in cinematic history. Vito Corleone, head of one of the most powerful organized-crime families in New York, crosses the street to buy some oranges from a fruit stand. Seconds later, his peaceful idyll is shattered as multiple gunshots leave him bleeding in the street -- victim of a hit by Mafia rival Virgil "the Turk" Sollozzo.Dr. iRack recommends you read the whole thing, and then chime in if you have a better movie-as-frame-for-world-politics pick.
By a miracle, he is only badly wounded. Two of his sons, Santino (Sonny) and Michael, and his adopted son and consigliere, Tom Hagen, gather in an atmosphere of shock to try to decide how to save the family.
This, of course, is the hinge of Francis Ford Coppola's movie, "The Godfather." It is also a startlingly useful metaphor for the strategic problems and global power structure of our time. The don, emblematic of Cold War American power, is struck by forces he did not expect and does not understand, as was America on 9/11. Intriguingly, his heirs embrace very different visions of family strategy that approximate the three schools of thought -- liberal institutionalism, neoconservatism and realism -- vying for control of U.S. foreign policy today.
15 comments:
This reminds me on when people talked about how the Chinese play "go" and Americans play football and this explains all of the relevant differences in international politics. Fun metaphor. . what's the content here?
If by realist you mean an actual foreign policy realist, i.e. someone who completely ignores the way domestic politics and the way ideas like religion can influence foreign policy, then you can take your movie metaphor. . . .
This article seemed flawed to me for the same reason most of the ones claiming the mantle of "realism" are flawed. It conflates pragmatism and wacky realists who seem not to understand that people acting contrary to their predictions are not aberrations to be solved but a demonstration their whole way of thinking about the world is empirically flawed.
p.s. Michael's use of "soft and hard power", as well as his willingness to shift the family business, etc., is the *opposite* of realism. Rather than a mechanistic and anachronistic affirmation of the exact same things over and over again (in the case of realists, material power and a total disregard of domestic politics, except by so-called neoclassical realists who just like the name -- they are just as much "liberals" in the international relations sense as they are realists), Michael was pragmatic. I think the authors would have been better served by referencing Dewey and James rather than realism. .
Does that make Fredo the UN - can't defend his charge, left weeping on the sidewalk, doing cocktail waitresses two at a clip ? ;-)
Does that make Enzo the baker- KBR? Hey, he had a larger part in the movie and made food! He even helps save Corleone's life when he poses as a guard with Michael outside of the hospital.
HEY! "I'm Enzo, the baker"! HAHAHA Damn I can taste that greezy D-Fact Food.....Blah! FYI- KBR's cakes they make in the Green Zone Chow Hall sucks balls. They don't make good frosting.
"Aliens"? Yes, it's true that Hudson ("Game over, man! Game over! We're screwed!") is panicky, and he may well be undermining morale with his demands for immediate retreat. But he's still on the right side - it's not like he's pro-alien - and he is basically correct; it is game over and they are indeed screwed. And everyone's concentrating on him, or on the lieutenant whose poor leadership and inability to adapt to a new environment caused so many of the casualties - but not on Burke, the Company man whose lies and greed got them into that situation in the first place.
So the crooked cop in cahoots with the Solazzos, Captain McCluskey, he represents the corrupt cabal in the GOP who, masquerading as defenders of the American Dream the Correlones aspire to, capture the reins of government in 2000 and violently undermine that Dream as they serve their own interests ?
Or what, hey?
Puzzled,
Dwight Whayle
"Tom, I advised Michael. I never thought you were a bad Consiglieri. I thought Santino was a bad Don, rest in peace."
The book hammers this point home repeatedly. Puzo presents Don Corleone as the ultimate realist, a man who prizes stability and the profits it produces above all, yet a realist who also does not shy from employing violence when it serves his interests, whether it is fighting an inter-city war against Al Capone, or using counterinsurgency techniques in the series of small wars against the "tribes" of stickup artists, street gangs, loan sharks, etc. in New York City. (In these wars he employs the "hard power" of Luca Brasi and Santino Corleone, while also relying on the "soft power", the negotiating and dealmaking skills, of Genco Abbandando and Tom Hagen.)
The book also makes the point that while the Don loves Santino dearly, he also thinks him somewhat of a fool for his ferocious temper, his total lack of subtlety, and his issuing of naked threats at the drop of a hat. The Don plainly believes that issuing threats is the worst kind of stupidity. Neocons take note.
Anonymous: No question -- but I think it is important to recognize that "realism" for Puzo and that policies it entails is very different than "realism" in international politics as described by its advocates.
scott wedman:
Point well taken. I guess it would be slightly more accurate to call Don Corleone the ultimate pragmatist.
But then again, I would not exactly classify Tom Hagen as a UN-style liberal internationalist. But Sonny definitely fits the neocon profile, what with his thirst for violence and senseless killing, macho strutting, and total inability to think strategically.
In the end, while its fun to muse about this stuff, it's also pretty pointless. Using pop culture to explain foreign policy is pretty shallow and dumb when you think about it. Which is why it must appeal to The Weekly Standard, National Review, Maureen Dowd, et al.
Anon
I would submit Stanley Kubrick's epic, Barry Lyndon.
Set in 18th century Europe, it chronicles the rise and fall of a young unscrupulous social climber, Barry Lyndon.
He is an adventurer and a gambler, engages in deception and dishonesty and alternately makes pragmatic decisions. Arranges a marriage of convenience and status, and eventually is brought down by a violent outburst among civil society.
I see many parallels to the American geopolitical experience in that regard. It's also a chronicle of the struggles and faults of man and to that extent it is a great metaphor for geopolitics as a whole.
Aside from all that it's a masterpiece of film making from Kubrick; the most beautiful film I have ever seen. One you shouldn't miss.
Miller's Crossing.
In this vein, I nominate Doug Feith as Doctor Strangelove.
And for the rest of the cast:
POTUS: POUTUS (W)
GEN Buck Turgidson: Don Rumsfeld
GEN Jack Ripper: Wolfowitz
Russian Ambassador: Colin Powell
The Big Board/War room: the rest of the Beltway. Take your pick.
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