Why Leaders Lie - Mearsheimer, John J_ [0]
WHY LEADERS LIE
The Truth about Lying in
International Politics
JOHN J. MEARSHEIMER
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Copyright © 2011 by John J. Mearsheimer
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mearsheimer, John J.
Why leaders lie : the truth about lying in international politics /
John J. Mearsheimer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-975873-9 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-19-975873-5
1. International relations—Moral and ethical aspects. 2. Truthfulness and
falsehood—Political aspects. 3. Political ethics. I. Title.
JZ1306.M43 2011
172’.4—dc22 2010013552
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
Contents
Preface
Introduction
CHAPTER 1
What is Lying?
CHAPTER 2
The Inventory of International Lies
CHAPTER 3
Lying between States
CHAPTER 4
Fearmongering
CHAPTER 5
Strategic Cover-ups
CHAPTER 6
Nationalist Myths
CHAPTER 7
Liberal Lies
CHAPTER 8
The Downside of Telling International Lies
CHAPTER 9
Conclusion
Notes
Index
Preface
In the spring of 2003, Serge Schmemann of the New York Times called me out of the blue and said that he was working on a piece about lying in international politics for the Sunday paper’s “Week in Review” section. He said that for some reason my name popped into his head, so he decided to call me. We had not met or talked before. I told him that I had never thought about the subject and I did not think there was much, if any, scholarly literature on international lying. I told him that he should tell me what he was thinking and I would react. We did just that and had what I thought was an interesting and fruitful discussion that lasted about an hour. Afterward, I wrote up some brief notes on the conversation and filed them away.
A few months later, in September 2003, I was invited to give a talk at MIT on a topic of my choosing. I thought it would be interesting to talk about lying in international politics, so I pulled up my notes from my conversation with Schmemann and crafted a talk for the occasion. Over the next six years, I wrote a paper, gave eight more talks, and had numerous conversations with friends and colleagues about this subject.
Throughout this process, I have been struck by the way people respond to the topic of international lying. Every audience and almost every person I have spoken to quickly becomes engaged and excited by the subject, and many want to talk at length about it. A number have sent me follow-up emails on their own initiative, including people who I have never met, but who were in the audience at one of my talks.
I can think of several reasons why this subject generates so much interest. For starters, most people consider lying to be a reprobate form of behavior, at least when you first broach the subject. Nearly everyone would recoil at being called a liar, even if they occasionally tell a lie themselves. Indeed, it is such a serious charge that people sometimes hesitate to call someone a liar even when they think the charge applies; instead they employ softer language. Senator