In a front-page New York Times in February 2002 article headlined, “A New Power in the Streets,” Patrick Tyler wrote: “The fracturing of the Western alliance over Iraq and the huge antiwar demonstrations around the world this weekend are reminders that there may still be two superpowers on the planet: the United States and world public opinion.”
That article provided the title for David Cortright’s new book , A Peaceful Superpower: Lessons from the World’s Largest Antiwar Movement (New Village Press, 240 pp. $89, hardcover; $22.95, paper; $21.80, Kindle), on the movement to stop America’s invasion of Iraq. Cortright is a professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and the author or editor of more than 20 books. That includes Waging Peace in Vietnam: U.S. Soldiers and Veterans Who Opposed the War and Soldiers in Revolt: GI Resistance During the Vietnam War.
Cortright is not just a scholar. A veteran of the Vietnam War, he has long been an antiwar activist who opposed the war as an active-duty soldier, served as the executive director for the Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy, and led the organized opposition to the war in Iraq.
Cortright posits that the antiwar movement spawned by the Iraq War—by sheer numbers purported to be the largest ever organized—was a continuation of a multi-generational struggle for peace that emerged from the Vietnam War. Though the movement did not prevent the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Cortright argues that it influenced international politics and the White House decision-making process, ultimately undermining American objectives in the Middle East. The antiwar movement, Cortright believes, exerted decisive influence on public opinion.
The book is accessibly written, and when Cortright wears his professorial hat, his analysis is cogent. He offers a sharp critique of the failings of democracy in the U.S. and the lack of accountability in the nation’s often-imperial foreign policy. He is also unafraid to critically examine the failings of the movement he helped lead, providing a utile history of the movement while revealing valuable insights into the technological and organizational innovations that allowed the undertaking to reach all corners of the globe.
But when Cortright writes as a fervent organizer, he trends toward hyperbole, in which he forces causal connections that are merely correlated. In these cases, Cortright’s narrative reads like bits of encouragement to the younger generation of activists frustrated with their limited effectiveness in conventional politics.
Cortright, for example, points out that President George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq openly defied world public opinion. Nonetheless, one month before the invasion, more than 70 percent of Americans supported the use of military force against Saddam Hussein, including majorities in all age, education, and pollical affiliation groups.
His assertion that Barrack Obama won 2008 presidential election as the anti-Iraq War candidate is equally specious. Obama did oppose the invasion of Iraq, but his election victory was based more on economic and cultural factors, with only 10 precent of those who voted for him mentioning his stance on the Iraq War.
Cortright admits that his stance is not one of a “detached ivory tower,” and his stridency should be applauded. What he does not reckon with is, despite the size and scope of the movement, it may have been too little, too late. Much of the protest’s energy was overseas, where millions marched in England, Spain, and Germany, compared to tens of thousands in this country.
These quibbles aside, Cortright has written an insightful and interesting book—part history, part memoir, and part “how-to.” It is a valuable contribution to the study of peace movements.
–Daniel R. Hart