The Godfather Doctrine: A Foreign Policy Parable

The Godfather Doctrine uses lessons from The Godfather film to examine America's changing geopolitical position and how the country can address its strategic challenges. The book draws parallels between the movie's plot—in which Don Corleone is shot and his sons Sonny and Michael, along with adopted son Tom Hagen, must lead the family forward—and contemporary American foreign policy. Hulsman and Mitchell argue that the aging Don represents declining Cold War-era American power in a world where adversaries operate by new rules. The don's heirs represent three major schools of American foreign policy: Tom embodies liberal institutionalism, believing negotiation and existing frameworks remain effective; Sonny represents the neoconservative approach of military action first; and Michael exemplifies realism, understanding that flexible combinations of soft and hard power are necessary to maintain influence and security in a changing world. Based on the authors' article "Pax Corleone," the book explains how Coppola's story about a Mafia dynasty offers insights relevant to American survival in the twenty-first century.