Authors Carpenter and Innocent are scholars in foreign policy studies and analysis affiliated with the Cato Institute. In this work accessible to students, scholars, and general readers, they review the history of America’s relationships with tyrants, dictators, and brutal regimes and develop standards for evaluating such relationships. Their recommendations for the future are based on ethical pragmatism. The authors examine the official justifications behind US support of authoritarian regimes and look at the consequences in the past and present. Part 1, on America’s questionable Cold War allies, contains chapters devoted to specific figures and countries including Latin American strongmen, Chiang Kai-Shek, Pakistan, the US-Saudi alliance, South Vietnamese dictators, Mobutu in Zaire, and Spain’s Ferdinand Marcos. Part 2 examines America’s authoritarian partners after 9/11, with chapter-length studies of US relationships with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Central Asia’s tyrants. The book concludes with recommendations on how the US can maintain American interests in these countries while remaining true to American values and protecting national security. Black and white historical photos are included. Annotation ©2015 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com) Read Less