Overconfidence and War : The Havoc and Glory of Positive Illusions

Rating:
Summary: An excellent account of hubris
Review: Dominic Johnson has written an excellent account of how overconfidence is engrained in our genetic code and leds to foreign policy debacles in the modern era. In the cases of Vietnam, the First World World War, and Iraq, overconfidence was the prime reason for these foreign policy disasters because all of the main characters in these cases ignored conflicting information and stifled dissent. Johnson argues that overconfident leaders believe that they can win any unwinnable conflict due to engrained genetice traits. However in the Munich and the Cuban Missile Crisis, leaders consulted with other members of the government, and this helped to diffuse any overconfidence amongst those in the cabinet. Some rightwinged readers might be offended by Johnson's praise of Chamberlain, but they should realize that both Britain and France lacked any significant ground forces during the Munich crisis to confront Germany. Moreover the nuance and willingness to listen to other viewpoints allowed John Kennedy to diffuse the Cuban Missile Crisis and save the world from nuclear destruction as mentioned in Johnson's book . However leaders that are narrowminded and overconfident such as L.B.J and G.W. Bush seemed unwilling to listen to contrary advice and prevent the nation from sufffering in two quagmires in Vietnam and Iraq. The main weakness of Johnson's book is that he skims over the reasons why the general public seems to have intially supported the fiascos in Iraq,Vietnam, and the First World War even when the casaulties began to pile up. I would reccomend this book to anyone who thinks that Bush's "strong," character is a plus in foreign policy while Kerry's "nuance," is a weakness.