3. Did you support President Obama's use of force in Libya? Why/why not?

Francis Fukuyama: Obama played this just right.  He intervened to prevent Q from rolling over Benghazi, which would have been a moral nightmare, and yet let Britain and France take the lead in the intervention.  Hanging back was exactly the right thing to do:  the Libyans needed to fight and bleed for their own freedom if they were to have ownership of the post-Q country.

Joseph S. Nye: Yes. It was a good example of smart power. He waited until he had the soft power narrative derived from the Arab League and UN resolutions, and then shared the hard power burden with European allies who had a more direct interest.

Kenneth Waltz: No.  No American national interest was at stake. 

John Mearsheimer: No, because Qaddafi was not engaged in or planning mass murder, because the Security Council resolution did not authorize regime change, and because the Obama administration used a bogus argument to evade the legal requirements of the War Powers Resolution.

James Fearon: Yes.  For less than one sixth of one percent of our total defense budget, we provided critical assistance to a rebel movement that unseated a vicious dictator. In addition to a plausible argument that the intervention saved a lot of lives, the action helped keep up the momentum of the Arab Spring, which we should be behind.

Alexander Wendt: Yes, because a) it was the right thing to do, b) we had support not only from our European allies but also more importantly the Arab League, and c) the terrain in Libya ensured that it could be done effectively at relatively low cost.

Robert Keohane: Yes.  I think that this was a good opportunity to implement the U.N.'s "Responsibility to Protect" doctrine and to support allies who were willing to carry the principal burden. 

Martha Finnemore: Yes, with reservations. Failure to support the Arab Spring would have been politically foolish and morally wrong, but R2P [the "Responsibility to Protect" doctrine] is not carte blanche for regime change (not that I miss Qaddafi). Letting Europeans lead on this via NATO with U.N. and Arab League support was smart.

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita: Lukewarmly. I believe he did a good job of shifting much of the cost to our NATO allies, avoiding their free-riding, but I believe Syria was a better target for intervention since it has a better prospect of liberalizing its politics and human rights than Libya under its emerging new leadership.

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