Williams Video

What Did We Mean?

Michael MacDonald, Frederick L. Schuman Professor of International Relations

This talk centers on regime change in Iraq, and particularly what it meant, what it was understood to mean and why it was supported. Rather than emphasizing weapons of massive destruction and Saddam’s alleged ties to Al Qaeda, we will focus on why the United States wanted regime change in Iraq and how misunderstandings of this nebulous concept have contributed to subsequent problems in Iraq.

Michael MacDonald is the Frederick L. Schuman Professor of International Relations at Williams. Educated at the University of California at Berkeley, where he received his B.A., M.B.A. and Ph.D., he has taught at Williams since 1983, concentrating on comparative politics and international relations. He has written a number of books on Northern Ireland and South Africa, and is currently writing a book on the reasons the U.S. went to war in Iraq.

Michael MacDonald’s department web page
Williams College Alumni Relations