Streets Without Joy: A Political History of Sanctuary and War
Channel: War Studies KCL
Date: 2021-02-02

Dr Michael Innes joins us to discuss his forthcoming book Streets Without Joy: A Political History of Sanctuary and War, 1959 - 2009.

Co-hosted by the Centre for Grand Strategy, The Sir Michael Howard Centre for the History of War and the Strategic Studies Research Theme. 

Streets Without Joy blends historical research with policy analysis to explore concepts of sanctuary in America's wartime decisions and discourses. Wars after the 9/11 attacks were marked by a political obsession with terrorist ‘sanctuaries’ and ‘safe havens’, a preoccupation embedded in nearly every official speech and document of the time. As an exercise in political communication, it was a spectacular success. From 2001 to 2009, President George W. Bush and his closest advisors set terms of reference that cascaded down from the White House, through government and into the hearts and minds of Americans. ‘Sanctuary’ was the red thread running through all of it, permeating the decisions and discourses of the day. Where did this obsession come from? How did it become such an important feature of American foreign policy? In this new political history, Michael A. Innes explores precedents, from Saigon to Baghdad, and traces how decision-makers and their advisors used ideas of sanctuary to redefine American foreign policy, national security, and enemies real and imagined.

Streets Without Joy: A Political History of Sanctuary and War, 1959-2009, forthcoming in 2021 from C. Hurst & Co. Publishers (Oxford University Press in North America).