WQWin09Cov_SubFinal 12/22/08 11:47 AM Page 2 Th Lincoln’s Memo to Obama by Ronald C. White Jr. WILSON McCulture by Aviya Kushner MUST GOVERNMENT BE INCOMPETENT? William A. Galston •John A. Nagl The WILSON QUAR TERL Y SURVEYING THE WORLD OF IDEAS Amy Wilkinson •Donald R. Wolfensberger QUARTERLY ROBOTS AT WAR Robots at War The New Battlefield By P. W. Singer Wi t 2009 V l 33 N 1 WINTER 2009 $6.95 If You Have Questions About Islam and Its History ... Get Informed Answers From Professor John L. Esposito’s Thoughtful 12-lecture Course From The Teaching Company’s Great World Religions Series ow familiar are you with the world’s About The Teaching Company® second-largest and fastest-growing We review hundreds of top-rated pro- Hreligion? Many in the West know GFTTPST GSPN "NFSJDBT CFTU DPMMFHFT BOE VOJ little about this faith—with its more than 1.2 versities each year. 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The Future of Islam t 8IBU UIF 2VSBO TBZT BCPVU UFSSPSJTN BOE political Islam, and the impact of Islamic what it says about God NPWFNFOUT GSPN /PSUI "GSJDB UP 4PVUIFBTU "TJB t "CPVU DPOUSJCVUJPOT UP NBUI TDJFODF BOE art made by a flourishing Islamic civiliza­ tion SAVE UP TO $160! t 8IFUIFS *TMBN JT DPNQBUJCMF XJUI NPE ernization, capitalism, and democracy. OFFER GOOD UNTIL APRIL 16, 2009 Professor Esposito expands his spotlight to 1-800-TEACH-12 (1-800-832-2412) Special offer is available online at include the ever-increasing reality of Muslims Fax: 703-378-3819 www.TEACH12.com/3wq as neighbors and colleagues in Europe and the The Charge my credit card: United States. Great Courses® THE TEACHING COMPANY ® n n n n 4151 Lafayette Center Drive, Suite 100 $IBOUJMMZ 7" "ĔĔĠĦğĥ /ĦĞēĖģ &ĩġ %ĒĥĖ About Our Sale Price Policy Priority Code 32404 Why is the sale price for this course so Please send me Great World Religions: Islam, which 4ĚĘğĒĥĦģĖ much lower than its standard price? 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Please send me a free copy of "QSJM UP SFDFJWF UIFTF TBWJOHT your current catalog (no purchase necessary). /PO64 0SEFST "EEJUJPOBM TIJQQJOH DIBSHFT BQQMZ 'PS NPSF EFUBJMT DBMM VT PS WJTJU UIF '"2 QBHF PO PVS XFCTJUF 4QFDJBM PGGFS JT BWBJMBCMF POMJOF BU XXX5&"$)DPNXR ** Virginia residents please add 5% sales tax. 0GGFS (PPE 5ISPVHI "QSJM The WILSON QUARTERLY Winter 2009 volume xxxiii, number 1 The Wilson Quarterly Published by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars FEATURES www.wilsonquarterly.com 50 COVER STORY obsession with “ethnic” writers. What’s missing from the cultural landscape is a curiosity about 30 ROBOTS AT WAR: The New Battlefield what lies entirely outside U.S. borders. By P. W. Singer | A new way of war is on the horizon. Already, robots and drones are replacing 49 MUST GOVERNMENT BE INCOMPETENT? human pilots and foot soldiers in some roles, and Ronald Reagan famously remarked that the nine in the future they will take over many more. The most terrifying words in the English language are, benefits of removing human soldiers from harm’s “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Yet way are obvious. But there’s a price to pay when a the disaster on Wall Street is a fresh reminder that society can wage war by remote control. there’s often no substitute for effective government. Our four authors tote up the federal government’s 18 Lincoln’s Memo to Obama modern successes and failures and zero in on what it By Ronald C. White Jr.| On the bicentennial of must do to adapt to the needs of the 21st century. Abraham Lincoln’s birth, a distinguished biog- The Right Bite| By William A. Galston rapher muses on the counsel the Great Eman- The Expeditionary Imperative | By John A. Nagl cipator might offer the new president who so Teaching a Hippo to Dance |By Amy Wilkinson often invokes him. Happy Together? | By Donald R. Wolfensberger 22 McCulture ON THE COVER: Illustration by Ryan Etter, www.ryanetterillustration.com. By Aviya Kushner | America has a president The views expressed herein are not necessarily those of the Woodrow who is half Kenyan, a taste for Tex-Mex, and an Wilson International Center for Scholars. 2 Wilson Quarterly ■Winter 2009 DEPARTMENTS 14 EDITOR’S COMMENT Congenitally Digital? from 98 Crossed Swords: The Chronicle Review Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within. 16 LETTERS 77 HISTORY By Shuja Nawaz Fallout From the Ice Age, from Reviewed by Ayesha Siddiqa American Historical Review 8 AT THE CENTER 100 Unimagined Communities. Spice and Status, from By Robert Thornton Historically Speaking 14 FINDINGS Reviewed by Allison Herling Ruark and Daniel Halperin 79 RELIGION & PHILOSOPHY What’s the Buzz? from 101 The Decline and The Russian Review Fall of the British Empire, Forgive Me Not, from In Character 1781–1997. By Piers Brendon IN ESSENCE 81 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY our survey of notable Reviewed by William The Research Boomerang, from articles from other Anthony Hay journals and magazines Issues in Science and Technology Just Another Prescription, from 102 Horses at Work: 67 FOREIGN POLICY & DEFENSE The New Atlantis Harnessing Power in Undersea Terrorism, from Industrial America. Proceedings 83 ARTS & LETTERS By Ann Norton Greene A Second Surge? from Small Wars Gray Listeners, from Latimes.com Reviewed by Dick Courteau Journal and Army Chagall’s Curious Legacy, from 104 Promised Land: Commentary Thirteen Books That 69 POLITICS & GOVERNMENT Changed America. The Clueless Voter, from 86 OTHER NATIONS By Jay Parini Canadian Journal of A Sickening State, from Reviewed by Eric Liebetrau Political Science Current History 105 Graphic! Design Spoon-Fed Ideology, from Political Illusory Reform, from Journal of History. Science and Politics Democracy and Economic Devel- opment and Cultural Change By Johanna Drucker The Local Government Colossus, and Emily McVarish from Governing Headscarf Politics, from Reviewed by Grant Alden Comparative Politics 71 ECONOMICS, LABOR & BUSINESS 107 The Enemy Within: The Price of Salvation, from 2,000 Years of Federal Reserve Bank of Witch-Hunting St. Louis Review 67 CURRENT BOOKS in the Western World.