Idealogian

David and Goliath

An interesting observation in the New York Times:

Coit Blacker, a longtime friend and colleague of [Condoleezza] Rice at Stanford who is now director of that university's Institute for International Studies, said any blind spots she had upon taking office in January 2001 might have been rooted in the fact that she emerged from a generation of scholars trained to focus on great-power politics, with terrorism seen as a troubling but subordinate element.

"It wasn't until after Sept. 11 that most of us realized that for the first time in human history," Mr. Blacker said, "a nonstate actor, a group of religious extremists at the very bottom of the international system, had the capability to inflict devastating damage on the very pinnacle of the international system."

A good point. It may also explain why, according to some, the Bush administration felt the need to link the attacks of 9/11 to Iraq. If terrorists are simply "subordinate element"s, then there must have been a "great-power politic"al entity that was truly behind the attacks.