Book Review: Christopher P. Twomey, The Military Lens: Doctrinal Difference and Deterrence Failure in Sino-American Relations (New York, NY: Cornell University Press, 2010, 280 pp., US$35 hbk)
| Author | Christopher Whyte |
| Published date | 01 September 2011 |
| Date | 01 September 2011 |
| DOI | 10.1177/03058298110400011202 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
188 Millennium: Journal of International Studies 40(1)
healthcare, a large prison population, an unrivalled military budget and ‘murder rates …
in a class by itself’ (p. 76) are salient reminders that not all the rhetoric about American
and European ways of doing things is speculative or misinformed. Certain starlight dif-
ferences, however, depend more on perspective than one might expect. For instance,
Baldwin’s analysis of healthcare shows that when one focuses on outcomes, the US is
actually ‘achieving the sorts of results one might expect from a universal system of
healthcare, but at a far greater price’ (p. 59).
Despite offering a refreshing marriage of data and commentary, however, Narcissism
may leave some of its audience with a few lingering questions. One issue pertains to the
way Baldwin renders countries comparable by using averages. Averaging America, of
course, allows it to be placed alongside its European counterparts, but one wonders if this
may at times obscure as much as it reveals. A worthy topic for future research, greater
analysis of bandwidth, distribution, medians and standard deviations would tell us more
about how those at the top, in the middle and at the bottom are faring. Next, brief criticism
must be levelled at Baldwin’s precarious speculation on even stronger transatlantic resem-
blance ‘if we could strip out the urban underclass’ (p. 226) in the US. While acknowledg-
ing that this ‘ghettoized and racially identifiable underclass’ (p. 226) contributes to large
cross-Atlantic divergences is a reasonable observation in itself, its inclusion as a sort of
hypothetical serves no discernible purpose except to reinforce the point that the removal
of a basic difference between two things would make them more similar. Finally, not a few
experienced travellers will wonder why important aspects of life simply feel so different
on each side of the Atlantic. How is it possible that after a short night flight, it so often
seems as if one has entered another world? What is it that might be missing, or that might
be difficult to grasp with the statistics and graphs that Baldwin marshals so skilfully?
Ultimately, most readers of The Narcissism of Minor Differences will find these
qualms secondary to what is an insightful and well-argued reinterpretation of the resem-
blance between Europe and the US. Empirically grounded and bucking much conven-
tional wisdom, it offers a new starting point to scholars of international relations,
nationalism and European integration from which to conceptualise the transatlantic
community.
Ulrich Krotz and Kelly Mckowen
Ulrich Krotz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, Brown
University, USA.
Kelly Mckowen is a Visiting Researcher in the Department of Social Anthropology,
University of Oslo, Norway.
Christopher P. Twomey, The Military Lens: Doctrinal Difference and Deterrence Failure in Sino-American
Relations (New York, NY: Cornell University Press, 2010, 280 pp., US$35 hbk).
In his The Military Lens: Doctrinal Difference and Deterrence Failure in Sino-American
Relations, Christopher P. Twomey argues that differences in the development of military
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