Carr: The Twenty Years crisis

Lead-in: information about the author

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Before you read

1. What do you know about the author of the text? What is his contribution to the theory of international relations? Have you read anything by this author before?
2. Skim the text very quickly and say who it is intended for.
3. What is the register of the text?
4. Do some Internet research and look up the information on the following:

• Walewski’s maxim
• John Bull
• Abyssinian crisis
• Tammany leader
• Pax Romana/ Pax Britannica
• Laisser-faire
• protectionist countries
• under-privileged nations

*Note the pronunciation of the name of 26^th American President Franclin D. Roosevelt [roʊzəvəlt]  

While you read

I. Read the first four paragraphs carefully, pencil in hand and
1) find the following words in the text; try to guess their meanings using the context 2) find Russian equivalents of the words 3) match the words from the list with their less formal synonyms

expose	statement
cull	show
contend	rebuke
belligerence	unimportant
petty	hostility
admonish	choose
utterance	claim
incur	reasonable
vest	present
preponderance	predominance
plausible	ignorant
commend	grant
benighted	experience

4) find Russian equivalents of the words below:

1. assailant (noun)
2. invoke (verb)
3. entail (verb)
4. assert (verb)
5. denounce (verb)
6. dismiss (verb)
7. device (noun)
8. inferior (adjective)
9. discredit (noun)
10. menace (verb)

II. Read the text again and elucidate on the following notions:

• postulate
• doctrine
• maxim
• proposition
• assumption
• identification
• assertion
• implication
• abandonment

After you read

I. Answer the following questions:

1. How does the author criticise the utopian thought?
2. What two propositions does the utopian find identical?
3. The author quotes quite a few Anglo-Saxon writers of late 19^th – early 20^th ct. How do these writers justify the maintenance of British supremacy in the world?
4. What triggered doubts as to British supremacy as one of the moral assets of mankind? Did this disillusionment linger?
5. Give examples from the text of the American presidents identifying their action with pursuing universal good. Could you give more examples of the kind?
6. The author claims that this tendency to identify national interests with universal rights prevails among Anglo-Saxon statesmen and writers. What are the two explanations for this?
7. Does the author support either of the above explanations? What is the real reason for British supremacy?
8. What is the doctrine of the harmony of interests based on?
9. Why is the doctrine considered to be an ingenious moral device?
10. In what way can the alleged natural harmony of interests correspond to the Machiavellian maxim?
11. What historical examples may serve to illustrate the doctrine of the harmony of interests?
12. What underlying disparity triggered the denial of the natural harmony of interests and adoption of a new harmony by artificial means?
13. What analogy can be drawn between Roman and British imperialism of the past and present supremacy vested in the dominant group of nations?
14. What principle is depicted in Churchill’s statement that “the fortunes of the British Empire and its glory are inseparably interwoven with the fortunes of the world”?

II. Summarise the ideas of the chapter

• The Nature of International Relations: Realism vs. Idealism
• The Role of Power in International Relations
• The League of Nations
• The Impact of Economic Factors
• The Rise of Totalitarianism

III. Assess the text critically according to the following criteria:

• novelty (have you learned anything new?)
• relevance (is this information relevant? Will it be of any use in your own research paper?)
• complexity (was it hard to grasp the main ideas of the text?)