Appeasement; Strategic Insight
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Authors
Moran, Daniel
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
2003-04-01
Date
Publisher
Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School
Language
en_US
Abstract
"Appeasement" is a word much in the news lately, and one whose application to policy is always negative. It is the political equivalent of a swear word; other examples include "fascism," "totalitarianism," and "aggression": all expressions whose use implies not merely disagreement or disapproval, but stigmatization. Among such anathema, "appeasement" stands out as the only one that derives from the politics of a democracy. It refers to the foreign policy of Great Britain toward Germany in the 1930s, a policy deemed so unwise as to involve not merely misjudgment or misfortune, but craven weakness, self-delusion, and treachery. To accuse someone of appeasement is to associate him or her with a historical episode whose meaning is thought to be beyond dispute, and one whose lessons are so plain that only a fool could fail to heed them.
Type
Article
Description
Strategic Insights are authored monthly by analysts with the Center for Contemporary Conflict (CCC). The CCC is the research arm of the National Security Affairs Department at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.
Series/Report No
Department
National Security Affairs
Organization
Center on Contemporary Conflict (CCC)
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
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Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.