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Research Fellow Christopher Mott wrote an article for the American Conservative on the tendency to resort to Second World War analogies and its distortionary effect on understanding past and current crises, including in Ukraine.
The following are excerpts from the original piece published on February 16, 2022.
The Second World War was not the only devastating conflict to occur in modern history, nor is it necessarily the one most germane to the present moment. As Westerners, we may feel connected to it more than most, but the world we inhabit today is not that of the late 1930s and early 1940s… it fails to shed light on our present moment. In fact, its routine usage by hawks suggests it is intended to sabotage nuanced discussion about complex geopolitical crises and foment more conflict.
It is not “appeasement” to recognize the facts on the ground and recalibrate to focus on dialogue during such disagreements. Rather, it is a simple acknowledgement that when multiple countries have competing interests, the issue is best resolved with each nation making a sober calculation of its respective national-security priorities. Diplomacy must come first.
Dr. Christopher Mott (@chrisdmott) is a Research Fellow at IPD and a former researcher and desk officer at the U.S. Department of State.
