ABSTRACT
I will consider two questions in this essay. First, what went wrong? Democracies are supposedly more peaceful than other states because they pursue moderate, centrist policies. Bad ideas, when they emerge, are to be shot down by the public deliberation that comes with representative government. But the Clinton administration doggedly pursued for four years a course of action that jeopardizes Russia's rapprochement with the West and saddles Americans and western Europeans with new and unnecessary defence commitments. The US Senate, America's repository of political wisdom and restraint, then gave its blessing by an overwhelming margin. Why?
