History, the White House and the Kremlin - Michael G. Fry

Historical knowledge is one of the principal intellectual resources of statesmen and politicians in formulating policy. However, the use of history can have a positive or negative impact.;This collection of essays examines the various ways in which history has influenced statesmen and politicians and how this has contributed to domestic and foreign policy formulation in the United States and the Soviet Union.;Rashid Khalidi argues that the United States has actually adopted an alternative version of history in order to justify its support for the Israelis in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Jonathan Haslam illustrates the long-term impact which traumatic events can have upon states and their policies; the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 continues to influence Soviet policy towards the Japanese and the two powers have yet to conclude a peace treaty. The emphasis of Diane Kunz's chapter on "The Re-emergence of the United States as a Debtor Nation", is that the United States should learn from history by examining Britain's solutions to a simular situation in 1931 and 1956.;Dwain Mefford examines how and why politicians and statesmen formulate foreign policy on the basis of historical analogy. Drawing upon insights from the cognitive sciences and artficial intelligence, he uses examples from Soviet Foreign Policy to illustrate the theory. This theme is continued by Alex Hybel, who discusses theories of how decision-makers develop and use analogical reasoning, and draws upon examples of US policy towards Latin America to explore the theories. There is a concluding chapter by Alan Henrikson to draw all the chapters together.