A Grand Strategy for America (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs) - Hardcover

Robert J. Art

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801441390 ISBN 13: 9780801441394

Publisher: Cornell University Press, 2003

Synopsis

The United States today is the most powerful nation in the world, perhaps even stronger than Rome was during its heyday. It is likely to remain the world's preeminent power for at least several decades to come. What behavior is appropriate for such a powerful state? To answer this question, Robert J. Art concentrates on "grand strategy"―the deployment of military power in both peace and war to support foreign policy goals.

He first defines America's contemporary national interests and the specific threats they face, then identifies seven grand strategies that the United States might contemplate, examining each in relation to America's interests. The seven are:

· dominion―forcibly trying to remake the world in America's own image;

· global collective security―attempting to keep the peace everywhere;

· regional collective security―confining peacekeeping efforts to Europe;

· cooperative security―seeking to reduce the occurrence of war by limiting other states' offensive capabilities;

· isolationism―withdrawing from all military involvement beyond U.S. borders;

· containment―holding the line against aggressor states; and

· selective engagement―choosing to prevent or to become involved only in those conflicts that pose a threat to the country's long-term interests.

Art makes a strong case for selective engagement as the most desirable strategy for contemporary America. It is the one that seeks to forestall dangers, not simply react to them; that is politically viable, at home and abroad; and that protects all U.S. interests, both essential and desirable. Art concludes that "selective engagement is not a strategy for all times, but it is the best grand strategy for these times."

About this title

From the Publisher:

New Book Prescribes Strategy to Maintain American Supremacy and Avert Terrorism

To remain the world’s preeminent power, the United States must not allow the campaign against terrorism to hijack its foreign policy. In his new book, "A Grand Strategy for America," Robert J. Art (Christian A. Herter Professor of International Relations at Brandeis University) warns against the perils of excessive ambition and unilateralism and prescribes "selective engagement" as the only viable strategy for contemporary America.

"Grand strategies" use the deployment of military power in both peace and war to support foreign policy goals. Potential strategies contrasted by Art include dominion, global collective security, regional collective security, cooperative security, isolationism, containment, and selective engagement. Of these, selective engagement — choosing to become involved only in those conflicts that pose a threat to the country's long-term interests — is the one grand strategy that seeks to forestall dangers, not simply react to them; that is politically viable, at home and abroad; and that protects all U.S. interests, both essential and desirable.

According to Art, America’s primary national interests include "protecting the American homeland from a weapons-of-mass-destruction attack, keeping a deep peace among the Eurasian great powers, and maintaining assured access to a stable supply of oil." These are classic realist goals that will keep the United States secure and prosperous. In addition, Art notes that "preserving an open international economic order, preserving democracy and promoting its spread while protecting human rights, and averting severe climate change are three classic liberal goals that will enhance America’s prosperity, make international relations more peaceful, and the international environment more benign."

Art maintains that "selective engagement is not a strategy for all times, but it is the best grand strategy for these times and is one that the United States can safely pursue for the next two to three decades." In implementing selective engagement, however, Art argues that the United States must avoid the excessive ambition and unilateralism that have tempted every powerful state in the past. Art points to America’s abandonment of the 1999 Kyoto Treaty on climate change and "dominion-like behavior under President George W. Bush" as steps down a perilous path that could lead to America’s ruin by dissipating resources, creating counter coalitions, and destroying essential alliances. Successfully navigating a course of strategic intervention means being wary of recent diplomacy marked by "tough rhetoric towards adversaries, a huge increase in American defense spending (only part of which could be accounted for by September 11), an unvarnished pursuit of American self-interest, a penchant for unilateralism that worried America’s potential enemies and aggravated its allies, and a strategic doctrine that stressed preempting threats rather than simply deterring or containing them."

According to Art, the United States today stands alone as the world’s preeminent military and economic power but to avoid imperial ruin, the United States must turn away from the temptations of excessive ambition and imperial overreach, and make sure that its national interests also serve the interests of its present and future allies around the globe. Art’s insightful book outlines behavior appropriate for the most powerful nation in the world and stresses the importance of maintaining a "moral compass" to avoid generating even more terrorism.

Robert J. Art is Christian A. Herter Professor of International Relations at Brandeis University. Among his books are "The United States and Coercive Diplomacy" (with Patrick Cronin).

About the Author:

Robert J. Art is Christian A. Herter Professor of International Relations at Brandeis University. He is the author of The TFX Decision: McNamara and the Military and coeditor of The United States and Coercive Diplomacy (with Patrick Cronin) and U.S. Foreign Policy: the Search for a New Role (with Seyom Brown).

About this edition

• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0801441390
• ISBN 13: 9780801441394
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 344