Building the Plane While F(lying) It

Abstract Realism hopes that states are rational actors who pursue reasonable ends through logical means. This hope, however, faces a serious challenge when states believe the misinformation that they create and sow, often in domestic publics. Reconsidering realism, actor-network theory can help render realist analyses if scholars are willing to reexamine the assumption that states are wholly rational in an objective sense and, instead, consider that states sometimes recalculate interests and methods based on self-authored misinformation. These instances of self-authored misinformation make it more difficult for states to pursue rational ends, but the consideration of such misinformation may well explain American foreign policymaking for the last half century. Misinformation is not only an effective tool for surreptitious statecraft but also an actor in its own right that, when out of the direct control of its authors, often serves to undermine the reasonableness of decisions in both domestic and international politics.