In Search of Monsters to Destroy: The Folly of American Empire and the Paths to Peace

Christopher J. Coyne

Dec 2022 · Independent Institute

About this ebook

"With In Search of Monsters to Destroy, Christopher Coyne offers readers a crisp, concise, and devastating indictment of American imperialism. His provocative proposal for a nonviolent 'polycentric' approach to national security comes as a welcome bonus."
—Andrew J. Bacevich, President and Chairman of the Board, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft; Professor Emeritus of International Relations and History, Boston University

Imperialism and militarism build empires, not liberalism.

So says Christopher Coyne, Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute and Professor of Economics at George Mason University, in this eye-opening, must-read book on America's recent foreign policy failures.

After 9/11, the United States tried to establish liberal political regimes in the Middle East and in the mountains of Afghanistan—but the effort, according to Coyne, was doomed to fail. And his logic is simple.

Illiberal means, such as:

• industrial-scale violence
• the destruction of international norms
• and partnerships with brutal, oppressive regimes

can lead only to illiberal ends. What else are the hundreds of thousands of dead and mutilated civilians the US left behind in the Middle East and Central Asia? What else are the destroyed ancient cultures and nearly obliterated nation-states? Coyne also points out that the illiberal perpetrators can end up nearly bankrupt and humiliated in the process—and profoundly less secure.

Sound familiar? Coyne insists that, if we do not absorb these truths, the rest of the 21st-century will be a repeat of its bloodstained, unstable beginning.

But Coyne is no isolationist.

He insists there are workable, proven alternatives to imperialism, militarism, and empire—ones that preserve freedom, promote security, and foster mutually enriching friendship among the nations of the earth. These alternatives stand in stark and admirable opposition to our current militaristic culture, proving that nonviolent approaches to domestic and international conflicts not only minimize violence, but also promote cultures of peace throughout the world.

Read In Search of Monsters to Destroy, and you'll never look at the nation state or international relations the same again.

About the author

Christopher J. Coyne is Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute and Co-Editor of The Independent Review, the F.A. Harper Professor of Economics at George Mason University, Co-Editor of the Review of Austrian Economics, and Book Review Editor for Public Choice. He received his Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University, and has taught at the University of West Virginia.