Looking for truth in the dark world of global politics.
In Why Leaders Lie, John Mearsheimer provides the first systematic analysis of lying at the highest levels. He identifies the different forms of lying, the reasons why lies are used as a tool of statecraft, the potential costs - and benefits. Drawing both on historical and presentday examples, he argues that leaders have often lied for good strategic reasons - as Roosevelt and Churchill did in World War Two - making blanket condemnation unrealistic and unwise.
Why Leaders Lie explains the different consequences that result from lying to another state, and from lying to one' s own people's as in the invasion of Iraq. Mearsheimer discovers that interstate lying has always been unusual: due to the distrust among great powers, outright deceit is difficult to pull off, and sometimes backfires. Leaders more frequently lie to their own publics and democratic leaders like our own do it more often than dictators. This book explains why. There has never been a full discussion of international lying. Now Why Leaders Lie fills the gap with a deeply informed and precisely argued account, which provides a template for understanding the real world of high-level decision making.
