Announcing: The influence of history
A series from The Diplomatic Pouch
“The influence of history” is a limited spring blog series from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. With contributions from ISD director of programs and research, Dr. Kelly McFarland and guest authors, this series will focus on the enduring influence of history on foreign affairs. Read more from ISD on diplomatic history.
Regardless of what you may hear from certain pundits, news channels, social media feeds, and family banter at the holiday table, history matters. An understanding of what has come before, and what has brought us to our current state (for better or worse), is essential to a stable, mature democracy. Just as important, it provides us with solid foundations for decision-making in both domestic and foreign policy.
A lack of historical knowledge within a population, conversely, creates situations that can be detrimental to democracy and a nation’s ability to conduct successful foreign affairs. This happens when individual citizens, politicians, governments, and non-state groups spread disinformation for specific political purposes or become unwitting traffickers of false narratives. Nations, for their part, are often founded upon faulty myths in order to build an “imagined community.” Historical abuse serves to undermine another politician or political group, or to create a justification to claim land, or even go to war. Those citizens who lack a basic understanding of historical fact can easily fall prey to these historical manipulators if they do not have the requisite critical thinking skills to question false and misleading claims, (or just don’t care enough to do so).
History also matters for foreign affairs and diplomacy. Beyond (mis)using history as a justification to right perceived wrongs or readjust boundaries that one side sees as unfair, policymakers consistently use historical analogies to try and discern the correct way forward on any given policy challenge today. If used correctly, analogies can be extremely helpful for policymakers to distill issues down to their core, rethink underlying assumptions, while also viewing problems through a wider lens. At the same time, analogies can also be horribly misused and misleading if policymakers only skim their surfaces or look for analogies that fit their already preconceived notions. For example, American and Russian diplomats are currently arguing over whether or not Secretary of State James Baker guaranteed the Soviets in 1990 that NATO would not expand eastward. As Ukraine’s future hangs in the balance, the influence of history, and competing perceptions of it, is on full display.
Over the course of the next few months, this series will dive into the ways in which history plays a role in current affairs. Many of the pieces will be based on the class I teach at Georgetown on the same topic. Now, more than ever, history, and a knowledge of, and sensibility to it, matters. After all, it’s the best — if not the only — guide we have for decision-making today.
Kelly McFarland is a U.S. diplomatic historian and the director of programs and research at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. Follow him on Twitter @McFarlandKellyM.
