International Relations Theory in Game of Thrones

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The Lannisters: Classical Realists

Only the Lannisters live up to their billing in "Game of Thrones." Calculating and elaborately golden-haired, they attack weaker foes because, well ... such is the nature of people and states. "Everyone who isn't us is an enemy," Cersei says to Joffrey, the future king, channeling Hans Morganthau. They make an alliance with the Baratheons to fight the Targaryens, with the Tyrells to fight the Baratheons and with the Freys to murder the Starks. And all are fleeting; this is not a family that believes in the institutional value of NATO. Allies also don't mean much to President Obama -- neither do enemies. His first major act in the Middle East was to start a public argument with Israel over settlements, while deftly reaching out to Iran's Supreme Leader shortly before Iranian forces crushed the largest pro-democracy demonstrations in a decade. He reached out to Assad a year or so before he began slaughtering his own people, courted a baleful Russia eight months after it invaded an outspoken U.S. friend and canceled missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, deeply embarrassing their governments. However, Obama is often a bad realist, more Joffrey than Tywin. On the margins, the U.S. gained nothing by irritating Israel and cozying up to Russia, which had supported three UN sanctions resolutions under President Bush. It got less from Assad. The mullahs, now democracy-free, continue to enrich uranium. And it is the rare president who can have worse relations with India, Pakistan and Afghanistan simultaneously than his predecessor. Unfortunately for the U.S., Cersei, not Tywin, is at the helm.

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