The Foreign Service Journal, October 2019

48 OCTOBER 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL How China Sees the World: Han-Centrism and the Balance of Power in International Politics John M. Friend and Bradley A. Thayer, Potomac Books, 2018, $27.95/hardcover, 192 pages. In this book, authors John M. Friend and Bradley A. Thayer dive into Han-centrism and the threat China poses to the balance of power in international politics. A form of Chinese nationalism, Han-centrism proclaims that Han Chinese are superior to others and are entitled to advance Chinese interests, no matter the cost to other countries or groups. The idea of Han-centrism continues to become more popular throughout China, leading to a nation that believes it has a right to dominate international politics. Han nationalists’ main goal is to reclaim China’s prosperity, which they believe was stolen by foreign powers. John M. Friend is an assistant professor of political science at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University. Bradley A. Thayer is the author of several books and currently a visiting fellow at Magdalen College, University of Oxford. Jerusalem and Washington: A Life in Politics and Diplomacy Zalman Shoval, Rowman & Littlefield, 2018, $38/hardcover, 368 pages. In this memoir, Ambassador Zalman Shoval takes readers inside closed doors in Jerusa- lem andWashington, where world leaders have made major decisions about the Gulf War, the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel’s foreign relations. Ambassador Shoval’s account is “essential reading for schol- ars, diplomats and all who seek to understand America’s critical role, past and future, in the Middle East,” says former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft. An early ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Shoval successfully navigated complicated relationships among Israel’s ministries and political parties. Far more turbulent and chal- lenging was his posting in Washington, where Israel’s financial dependence almost caused his expulsion. Zalman Shoval is an Israeli politician who served as Israel’s ambassador to the United States during the George H.W. Bush presidency and during the Clinton administration. He resides in Tel Aviv and often visits the United States. Leap of Faith: Hubris, Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy Tragedy Michael J. Mazarr, PublicAffairs, 2019, $30/hardcover, 528 pages. Leap of Faith is a deeply researched insider account of how the United States came to invade Iraq in 2003. The author interviewed dozens of people involved in deliberations to invade Iraq, and reviewed all documents so far declassified. He concludes that what he calls “America’s greatest foreign policy tragedy” was the result of blunders, intellectual and moral arrogance, and toxic personality traits among political and military leaders. Faulty assumptions by U.S. officials included assuming the United States could intervene in Iraq with a light footprint and failing to plan effectively for the aftermath of the war. To avoid another such calamity, he argues that we need prudent, careful government leaders and a well-informed populace. Michael J. Mazarr is a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation. He has been a faculty member and associate dean at the U.S. National War College. The Lessons of Tragedy: Statecraft and World Order Hal Brands and Charles Edel, Yale University Press, 2019, $25/hardcover, 216 pages. U.S. leaders’ memories of the tragic events that led to World War II helped build the postwar order and an era of long-term prosperity. But today, as Americans lose sight of the fact that the descent into war and violence has been a recurring theme in world history, the global order is under sharper threat than at any time in decades. “Brands and Edel argue persuasively for a return to the ‘tragic sensibility’ that spurred the creation of all previous international orders,” says former Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work. Hal Brands is the Henry A. Kissinger distinguished professor of global affairs in the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Charles Edel is a senior fellow and visiting scholar at the United States Studies Centre at the Univer- sity of Sydney.