Friendly Tyrants
An American Dilemma

Edited by Daniel Pipes and Adam Garfinkle
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991

This collection of essays resulted from a three-year study of American relations with pro-U.S. authoritarian regimes sponsored by the Foreign Policy Research Institute. In part one, policy analysts and practitioners examine historic examples such as the Shah of Iran, Ferdinand Marcos, and South Vietnam. Part two offers lessons applicable to managing current and future problems. Additional essays offer general policy guidelines.

From the dust jacket:

What do the South Vietnamese government, the Shah and Ferdinand Marcos have in common? All were allied to the United States, all defied democratic and liberal norms and all three fell in a blaze, creating problems for the United States. In each case the problem arose in large part because Washington pursued security interests, while the public reacted against humanitarian abuses, and the contradiction led to disaster.

These three cases - and eighteen more - are the subject of Friendly Tyrants, the first study ever to survey the contentious, persistent problem of U.S. government relations with pro-American authoritarian rulers. Working together over a three-year period, a distinguished group of specialists and government officials draw conclusions that offer guidelines to help understand the problem and to make policy for the future.

Daniel Pipes is Director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, and editor of its quarterly journal Orbis. In addition to teaching at the University of Chicago, Harvard University and the U.S. Naval War College, he has served in three positions at the Department of State, two in Washington and one in Geneva. Mr. Pipes has published six books, including two in 1990 - The Rushdie Affair and Greater Syria.

Adam Garfinkle is Coordinator of Political Studies at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia and Contributing Editor to Orbis. He has served as an aide to both Senator Henry M. Jackson and General Alexander M. Haig, Jr. A lecturer in political science at the University of Pennsylvania, he is the recipient of Fulbright, U.S. Institute of Peace and German Marshall Fund grants. He has written three books, including The Politics of the Nuclear Freeze (1984), and has published essays in journals such as Commentary, Jerusalem Quarterly, Middle Eastern Studies, The National Interest, Political Science Quarterly and Washington Quarterly.

Preface and Introduction

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