The Causal Vectors From the Bottom Up Versus the Top Down

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Cintlain: How do you balance, say, the causal vectors from the bottom up versus the top down? I mean, obviously, i guess we need both to end slavery, we needed a civil war, apparently. Or i know there are some people tat that argue that slavery would have died out by, say, the 18 nineties or something, nomically. But that may be debatable. What are your thoughts on that?

In this conversation based on his new book, The Stupidity of War, political scientist John Mueller argues that American foreign policy since 1945 has been one long miscue; most international threats — including during the Cold War — have been substantially exaggerated. The result has been agony and bloviation, unnecessary and costly military interventions that have mostly failed. With international war in decline, complacency and appeasement become viable diplomatic devices and a large military is scarcely required.