Top products from r/globalistshills

Three suggestions, but I feel the latter two should be dealt with as a pair. All of these belong solidly in the Political Science/Foreign Affairs genre

Worldmaking: The Art and Science of American Diplomacy by David Milne

And I'll go with the WSJ review for the blurb:

“David Milne tells the story of the hundred or so years when a sequence of public intellectuals shaped the discourse and practice of U.S. foreign affairs with confidence and élan―and guided America to its place as the world’s No. 1 power . . . That Mr. Milne succeeds, and brilliantly, is due in no small part to the vivacity and jargon-free clarity of his prose. But he also has a clever, thoughtful thesis that, while developed with great brio, he is careful not to overstate.” ―Richard Aldous, The Wall Street Journal

https://www.amazon.com/Worldmaking-Art-Science-American-Diplomacy/dp/0374292566/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492799342&sr=8-1&keywords=worldmaking+the+art+and+science+of+american+diplomacy

Now the other two books I feel complement each other in their essential viewpoints. There's a friction between them (one written by a former Obama team member, the other by a Conservative heavyweight) but I feel they're best when read back to back.

The Long Game: How Obama defied Washington and redefined America's role in the World by Derek Chollet, and The Big Stick: The Limits of Soft Power & the Necessity of Military Force by Eliot Cohen.

The Economist review of The Long Game:

http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21702733-new-book-argues-barack-obamas-grand-strategy-has-made-america-stronger-both-home

The NYT review of The Big Stick:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/books/review-the-big-stick-argues-for-a-robust-military-role-abroad.html

Both available from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Long-Game-Washington-Redefined-America-s/dp/161039660X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1492800752&sr=8-3&keywords=the+long+game

https://www.amazon.com/Big-Stick-Limits-Necessity-Military/dp/0465044727/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492800771&sr=8-1&keywords=the+big+stick

Also, I'm tilted towards wanting Worldmaking more, just for the broader history look.

Progress - Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future by Cato Institute fellow Johan Norberg. Honestly one of the best books I've ever read, Norberg goes through the myraid ways the world today is undeniably better than it has ever been, and the incredible progress that free-market capitalism and globalisation have made in improving the lives of everyone. He backs everything up with firm empirical data but is also excellent at providing a human narrative around advances.

The Economist reviews it here: http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21706231-human-life-has-improved-many-ways-both-recently-according-swedish-economic

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Progress-Reasons-Look-Forward-Future/dp/1780749503

Genre would be economic/glorious neoliberal triumphs history

The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics By Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith

1. 
   
   For eighteen years, Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith have been part of a team revolutionizing the study of politics by turning conventional wisdom on its head. They start from a single assertion: Leaders do whatever keeps them in power. They don't care about the “national interest”—or even their subjects—unless they have to.
   
   This clever and accessible book shows that the difference between tyrants and democrats is just a convenient fiction. Governments do not differ in kind but only in the number of essential supporters, or backs that need scratching. The size of this group determines almost everything about politics: what leaders can get away with, and the quality of life or misery under them. The picture the authors paint is not pretty. But it just may be the truth, which is a good starting point for anyone seeking to improve human governance.
   
   This is essentially any public choice economics class you'll ever take. It's a great break down on the real incentives of rulers and how that influences their rule, even more so it goes into detail how these incentives shape economies, policies, wars, business, and much more.
   
   2.
   
   https://www.amazon.com/Dictators-Handbook-Behavior-Almost-Politics/dp/1610391845
   
   
   *3.
   
   Nonfiction- Political Science/Public Choice theory
   
   

Jagdish Bhagwati's "In Defense of Globalization" Basically what you'd expect form the title, a comprehensive defense of globalization, including an analysis of globalization's benefits, its ideological opponents, its drawbacks, and what can be done to make it work even better. It was published back in 2007, so obviously a little dated, but from what I've read of it so far it's still extremely relevant to what is going on in the world right now.

Amazon sells the kindle version for just over $10 for those who are interested-
https://www.amazon.ca/Defense-Globalization-New-Afterword/dp/0195330935

I'm not too sure how I'd classify it genre wise, polemic I guess?

I'd propose The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker. In true neo-liberal fashion, I'll just quote a bit of the Economist's review for the summary:

>FIRST the good news—people are much nicer than they used to be and they are becoming steadily less violent. This is the thesis of Steven Pinker's absorbing and detailed survey of human behaviour that goes right back to early Christendom. His work is based on two arguments. The first is that the past was far more unpleasant than it was thought to be, whereas the present is altogether more peaceable, contrary to what many believe.

...

>But what is the lesson of this generally benign assessment? Immanuel Kant's famous “triangle” of factors—open economies, democracy and engagement with the outside world—are still the prerequisites for reliable peace. Professor Pinker (unfashionably) praises United Nations peacekeeping. It makes it harder for the bellicose to start wars and helps nip some resurgent conflicts in the bud before they can spark off yet more carnage. Aspiring to bourgeois prosperity and free trade is also important; people are less inclined to kill those with whom they can do business.

>Professor Pinker ends with a treatise on brain science, a fluent home run for a psychologist-turned-historian. Neuro-plasticity, the human brain's ability to change in response to experience, means that people are less likely to resort to violence in their daily lives than their forebears; other behavioural strategies work better. That may not have been quite what Lincoln meant, though the belief in man's improvability is as uplifting in this magisterial work as it was in the president's speech.

I highlighted the bits of the conclusion that are particularly ((neoliberal))) for your convenience.

In all seriousness, it's a fascinating very well-written and very wide-ranging book with a neo-liberal conclusion, but also one which has already invited a lot of debate and criticism. That makes for more interesting discussion and a perfect book club selection. The only downside is the intimidating length of the book, but I think many of the chapters could be read separately instead.

Buy here: https://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-Violence/dp/1531823971

Genre: Amazon puts it under 'Psychology and Counselling', but in reality it could fit under 'sociology', 'cultural history', 'anthropology', 'psychology' and 'philosophy'.

My earlier writeup for The Bottom Billion:

I'd humbly suggest The Bottom Billion as the first submission. I chose it because it was touted as the balanced perspective on development economics by the /r/economics sidebar, and I think it represents this subs focus.

The premise is that, since the 1960s, where 1/6th of the world was rich and the rest poor, real strides have been made worldwide, with some 4/6ths of the world being lifted out of poverty to middle income. At the turn of the millenia, this gives us 1 billion rich, 4 billion middle income and 1 billion that has been left behind, with incomes stagnant or falling in this period. Collier than examines why this is, and offers solutions.

I think this is a title worthy of the audience of /r/globalistshills because a) it is heavily evidence-based, but more importantly b) it represents the twin premise of this sub, that the (((neoliberal))) consensus has worked for the betterment of billions of people, but there are still problems in the world, and we need evidence-based policy to solve them.

Obviously we can use another text if of the powers that be prefer, but I think this would be an excellent start.

Caveat that I've not actually got very far in it yet, but I want to discuss it with people when I'm done.

This was very interesting. Thank you so much for posting this.

Considering the amount of time he spent discussing Amazon I think I really don't know enough about them. I've only ever ordered one book from them years ago and haven't paid them much mind since. I'm hoping that his is simply due to their reduced presence in my country and not because I'm somehow a 22 year old CS major who's out of touch with the latest technology brands. Likely both.

Will The Four be the subject in an upcoming book club, /u/Qgqqqqq?

I have noticed that when existing moral or cognitive categories/structures are challenged, people tend to regress to more basic ones. So even as many people have embraced liberal human rights ideas, such as gender equality and dignity for QUILTBAG (LGBTQIA+), many others are in a backlash as they pull back to try to find something that they can understand and rely on, and that tends to be more simplified power and authority structures where big/loud=strong.

George Lakoff described some of this thinking in Don't Think of an Elephant.

Title: World Order - Kissinger

Summary: (goodreads): Henry Kissinger offers in World Order a deep meditation on the roots of international harmony and global disorder. Drawing on his experience as one of the foremost statesmen of the modern era—advising presidents, traveling the world, observing and shaping the central foreign policy events of recent decades—Kissinger now reveals his analysis of the ultimate challenge for the twenty-first century: how to build a shared international order in a world of divergent historical perspectives, violent conflict, proliferating technology, and ideological extremism.


Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.ca/World-Order-Henry-Kissinger/dp/1594206147