Wall Street's Think Tank: The Council on Foreign Relations and the Empire of Neoliberal Geopolitics, 1976-2014

by Laurence H. Shoup

Overview

Traces the expansive influence of The Council of Foreign Relations in advancing Wall Street's foreign policy agendas and U.S. influence abroad

The Council on Foreign Relations is the most influential foreign-policy think tank in the United States, claiming among its members a high percentage of government officials, media figures, and establishment elite. For decades it kept a low profile even while it shaped policy, advised presidents, and helped shore up U.S. hegemony following the Second World War. In 1977, Laurence H. Shoup and William Minter published the first in-depth study of the CFR, Imperial Brain Trust, an explosive work that traced the activities and influence of the CFR from its origins in the 1920s through the Cold War.

Now, Laurence H. Shoup returns with this long-awaited sequel, which brings the story up to date. Wall Street’s Think Tank follows the CFR from the 1970s through the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union to the present. It explains how members responded to rapid changes in the world scene: globalization, the rise of China, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the launch of a “War on Terror,” among other major developments. Shoup argues that the CFR now operates in an era of “Neoliberal Geopolitics,” a worldwide paradigm that its members helped to establish and that reflects the interests of the U.S. ruling class, but is not without challengers. Wall Street’s Think Tank is an essential guide to understanding the Council on Foreign Relations and the shadow it casts over recent history and current events.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781583677544
Publisher:	Monthly Review Press
Publication date:	03/22/2019
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Laurence H. Shoup received his Ph.D. in History from Northwestern Universityin 1974. He is the author of five books, including Imperial Brain Trust (with William Minter) and Rulers and Rebels: A People’s History of Early California, 1769-1901, as well as many articles in scholarly and popular publications. He has taught U.S. history at the University of Illinois, San Francisco State University, Sonoma State University, and has been active in the anti-war and social justice movements since the 1960s.

Table of Contents

Preface 7

Introduction: The Early History of the CFR 13

Part I Wall Streets Think Tank, 1976-2014 23

1 The U.S. Capitalist Class and the Council on Foreign Relations 25

2 The Organizational History of the Council, 1976-2014 55

3 The CFR's Domestic Network, 1976-2014 91

4 The International Connections of the CFR 131

Part II The Empire of Neoliberal Geopolitics 159

5 The CFR's Worldview, Grand Strategy, and Tactics, 1976-2014 161

6 Imperial Neoliberal Geopolitics in Action: The CFR and the War on Iraq, 1982-2013 200

7 The CFR and the Empire of Neoliberal Geopolitics: Case Studies 235

8 Fiddling while the Earth Slowly Burns: The Council and the Ecological Crisis, 1990-2014 277

Concluding Reflections: Capitalist Class Rule vs. Democracy and the Public Interest 299

Afterword 315

Appendix: CFR Officers and Directors, 1921-2013 331

Bibliography 334

Notes 341

Index 361