Thirteen Days, The Guns of August, and Alexander Wendt

Political Science Rules. Sure, it's a ton of reading, a lot of writing, and a lot of debating - but, I can honestly say that I have learned a great amount in my selected study. But, lets not talk about the boring stuff. Recently something very out of the ordinary happened. In one of my classes we watched one of my favorite movies of all time, "Thirteen Days". It's the story of diplomacy during the Cuban Missile Crisis and it is considered to be one of the most accurate depictions of American Politics and IR Theory. Something even more awesome though, is that in the movie JFK bases his diplomacy off of one of the greatest books ever written, the Pulitzer Prize winning, The Guns of August. The book is about World War I and the events leading to the battles that took place. The writer makes the argument that misinterpretations and miscalculations of signs (intentionally or non-intenionally) given by their adversaries is responsible for the outcomes specific battles.

For a rough example, it would be like, having one neighbor build a fence around his property. The other neighbor noticing the fence and interpreting it as his neighbor doing something secretive. The second neighbor then responds according to his code of ethics. The situation escalates, etc. etc, etc. Misinterpretations and miscalculations can be the catalyst for catastrophic events.

Like in the Cuban Missile Crisis, both the US and the Soviets were terrified of nuclear war due to the threat of mutually assured destruction. The blockade, the letters, and U2 Spy Planes were are misinterpreted as violent acts rather than attempts at diplomacy which nearly brought the world to destruction. It's incredibly cool stuff to study.

These arguments are similar to the political journal by Alexander Wendt entitled Anarchy Is What States Make Of It. If you haven't read it, I suggest you do, it's a very provocative argument and makes some excellent points - however it does have some weak points as most political journals do.

Annnnnnnyways - Just wanted to say that taking a break from all the reading, writing, and debating was super nice. I wanted to share it with all of you. If you have time, I suggest you read at least the premise or introduction to Alexander Wendt's journal, then watch Thirteen Days and if you have time, give The Guns of August a read. Very cool stuff.

Below is a clip from Thirteen Days (one of my FAVORITE scenes) it is where the American Ambassador to the United Nations (Adlai Stevenson) addresses the UN regarding the Soviets placing ICBM's in Cuba. The man battling him out is the Soviet Chairman of the U.N. Security Council. Very cool moment in history. Adlai Stevenson is a stud.

-Mishelle