"In "What Putin, Xi and Khamenei Want" (op-ed, Dec. 28), Aaron MacLean makes the important point that the world is a dangerous place, populated with states that have divergent and sometimes violently clashing interests. But he goes on to frame this persistent reality not as the factory setting of the international system, but as an artifact of the recent division of the world into democracies and autocracies.
This Manichaean frame is unnecessary. We don't need to invoke the abstraction of autocracy to explain Russia's desire to neutralize Ukraine or Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons or Beijing's drive to dominate the Western Pacific. It does not add any analytical value. The abstraction's only function is to frame international politics as a morality play, one in which we are the heroes and they are the villains. This might make for good drama, but it doesn't help mitigate the risk of major war or manage the dynamics of conflict and competition that are baked into all international systems.
Prof. Andrew A. Latham
Macalester College
St. Paul, Minn."[1]
We cannot live in Lithuania without this moral play. We got enchanted heroically fencing with golden spoons that we will soon go bankrupt.
1. Heroes, Villains and International Relations
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 05 Jan 2022: A.14.
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