Jeune Street

The New Yorker points to a lesser-known quotation of Winston Churchill:

“The word ‘appeasement’ is not popular, but appeasement has its place in all policy,” he said in 1950. “Make sure you put it in the right place. Appease the weak, defy the strong.” He argued that “appeasement from strength is magnanimous and noble and might be the surest and perhaps the only path to world peace.” And he remarked on the painful irony: “When nations or individuals get strong they are often truculent and bullying, but when they are weak they become better-mannered. But this is the reverse of what is healthy and wise.”

I think the concept of 'what is ...wise' -- not to mention 'appeasement' -- is too often absent from foreign policy discussions. Wisdom denotes the application of high principle to practical situations, which makes you wonder about what is the opposite of 'wisdom' in foreign policy. I guess it's the pursuit of base material interest. What would the world look like if nations pursued wisdom in their foreign policies? How would the concept of the 'national interest' be understood within such a framework?

Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan