Synopses & Reviews
Are there limits to American power? The neoconservative brain trust behind the Bush administration don't seem to recognize any. After the cold war, many Americanson both sides of the aislehave come to mistakenly believe that the United States has become powerful enough to do whatever it wants, wherever it wants, without regard to allies, costs, or results. But as events in Iraq are proving, America may be incredibly powerful, but it is not all powerful.
Drawing on her eight years as a high-ranking official in the Clinton administration, Nancy Soderberg takes you behind the scenes in the highest echelons of government to examine how the president and his advisors responded to the challenge of shaping a new foreign policy for the postcold war era. She cites personal recollections, recently declassified documents, and interviews with the principals involved in these decisions to provide insight into the decision-making process that all presidents faceoften in crisis situations without complete information and with lives hanging in the balance.
Soderberg carefully contrasts Clinton's approachas it evolved from a shaky start in Somalia and Haiti, through peacemaking efforts in Ireland and the Middle East, to a carefully crafted blend of diplomacy, force, leadership, and cooperation in Bosnia and Kosovowith Bush's embrace of the superpower myth, which holds that America is powerful enough to bend the world to its will, largely through unilateral force, whether that goal is spreading democracy, ending terrorism, avoiding nuclear war, maintaining homeland security, or creating peace. The only uncertainty the Bush administration feels it faces is when and where to act.
As The Superpower Myth makes startlingly clear, no country, in practice, could ever be strong enough to solve problems like Somalia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan through purely military means. In the future, America's power will constantly be called upon to help failed and failing states, and it is becoming clear that the complex mess of Somalia (and now Iraq) has replaced the proxy war of Vietnam as the model for what future military conflicts will look like: a failed state, a power vacuum, armed factions, and enough chaos to threaten an entire region. Using vivid examples from her years in the White House and at the United Nations, Nancy Soderberg demonstrates why military force alone is not always effective, why allies and consensus-building are crucial, and how the current administration's faulty worldview has adversely affected policies toward Israel, Iraq, North Korea, Haiti, Africa, and al Qaeda.
Powerful, provocative, and persuasive, this timely book demonstrates that the future of America's security depends on overcoming the superpower myth.
Review
"For eight years, Nancy Soderberg served with distinction and creativity at the highest levels of American government. She is uniquely positioned to explain how the world works in this new era-and when it's in danger of breaking down." Dr. Madeleine K. Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State
Review
"What America can and cannot accomplish purely on its own has become the central question of U.S. foreign policy. Nancy Soderberg offers a sensible, hard-headed, realistic alternative to the excesses of America's Iraq-era dealings with the world." James Fallows, National Correspondent The Atlantic Monthly
Review
"Both a memoir and analysis, this fascinating account by a White House insider tells how to marshal the full strength of American power beyond o unrivalled military." Joseph S. Nye Jr., author of Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics
Review
"In The Superpower Myth, Nancy Soderberg tackles the most important question the United States has faced since the end of the cold war: how and to what end do we use our military and economic supremacy? Her argument shows, among other things, how George W. Bush ignored the answers that the Clinton administration had begun to develop to this question. She provides a very useful memoir of the Clinton years and a compelling critique of the Bush administration." John B. Judis, Senior Editor, The New Republic and author of The Folly of Empire
Review
"For eight years, Nancy Soderberg served with distinction and creativity at the highest levels of American government. She is uniquely positioned to explain how the world works in this new era and when it's in danger of breaking down." Dr. Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State
Review
"The Superpower Myth exposes the essential fallacy of those who believe that because America is the most powerful country in the world, it can go about its business without regard for the views of others. Soderberg'sargument that we must engage the world in concert with others speaks to an essential truth that we ignore at our own peril." Ivo H. Daalder, coauthor of America Unbound
Synopsis
Praise for The Superpower Myth
"What America canand cannotaccomplish purely on its own has become the central question of U.S. foreign policy. Nancy Soderberg offers a sensible, hard-headed, realistic alternative to the excesses of America's Iraq-era dealings with the world."
James Fallows, National Correspondent The Atlantic Monthly
"Both a memoir and analysis, this fascinating account by a White House insider tells how to marshal the full strength of American power beyond our unrivalled military."
Joseph S. Nye Jr., author of Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics
"In The Superpower Myth, Nancy Soderberg tackles the most important question the United States has faced since the end of the cold war: how and to what end do we use our military and economic supremacy? Her argument shows, among other things, how George W. Bush ignored the answers that the Clinton administration had begun to develop to this question. She provides a very useful memoir of the Clinton years and a compelling critique of the Bush administration."
John B. Judis, Senior Editor, The New Republic and author of The Folly of Empire
"For eight years, Nancy Soderberg served with distinction and creativity at the highest levels of American government. She is uniquely positioned to explain how the world works in this new eraand when it's in danger of breaking down."
Dr. Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State
"The Superpower Myth exposes the essential fallacy of those who believe that because America is the most powerful country in the world, it can go about its business without regard for the views of others. Soderberg's argument that we must engage the world in concert with others speaks to an essential truth that we ignore at our own peril."
Ivo H. Daalder, coauthor of America Unbound
Synopsis
Are there limits to American power? The neoconservative brain trust behind the Bush administration's foreign policy doesn't seem to recognize any. For the first time, we have people in power who believe that as the world's reigning superpower, America can do what it wants, when it wants, without regard to allies, costs, or results. But as events in Iraq are proving, America may be powerful, but it is not all-powerful.
In practice, no country could ever be strong enough to solve problems like Somalia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq through purely military means. In the future, America's power will constantly be called up to help failed and failing states, and it is becoming clear that the complex mess of Somalia has replaced the proxy war of Vietnam as the model for what future military conflicts will look like: a failed state, a power vacuum, armed factions, and enough chaos to panic an entire region. Using vivid examples from her years in the White House and at the United Nations, Nancy Soderberg demonstrates why military force is not always effective, why allies and consensus-building are crucial, and how the current administration's faulty world view has adversely affected policies toward Israel, Iraq, North Korea, Haiti, Africa, and Al-Qaeda. Powerful, provocative, and persuasive, this timely book demonstrates that the future of America's security depends on overcoming thesuperpower myth.
Nancy Soderberg (New York, NY) was a foreign policy advisor to Bill Clinton from the 1992 campaign through the end of his second term. From 1993 to 1996 she was the third ranking official at the National Security Council, serving as Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, and from 1997 to 2001 she was a U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. She is currently the Vice President and Director of the New York office of the International Crisis Group and a foreign policy analyst for MSNBC.
Synopsis
Praise for The Superpower Myth
"What America can and cannot accomplish purely on its own has become the central question of U.S. foreign policy. Nancy Soderberg offers a sensible, hard-headed, realistic alternative to the excesses of America's Iraq-era dealings with the world."
James Fallows, National Correspondent The Atlantic Monthly
"Both a memoir and analysis, this fascinating account by a White House insider tells how to marshal the full strength of American power beyond our unrivalled military."
Joseph S. Nye Jr., author of Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics
"In The Superpower Myth, Nancy Soderberg tackles the most important question the United States has faced since the end of the cold war: how and to what end do we use our military and economic supremacy? Her argument shows, among other things, how George W. Bush ignored the answers that the Clinton administration had begun to develop to this question. She provides a very useful memoir of the Clinton years and a compelling critique of the Bush administration."
John B. Judis, Senior Editor, The New Republic and author of The Folly of Empire
"For eight years, Nancy Soderberg served with distinction and creativity at the highest levels of American government. She is uniquely positioned to explain how the world works in this new era and when it's in danger of breaking down."
Dr. Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State
"The Superpower Myth exposes the essential fallacy of those who believe that because America is the most powerful country in the world, it can go about its business without regard for the views of others.Soderberg's argument that we must engage the world in concert with others speaks to an essential truth that we ignore at our own peril."
Ivo H. Daalder, coauthor of America Unbound
About the Author
NANCY SODERBERG was a senior foreign policy advisor to Bill Clinton from the 1992 campaign through the end of his second term. From 1993 to 1996, she was the third-ranking official at the National Security Council, and from 1997 to 2001, she was a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Soderberg is now a Vice President at the International Crisis Group, and she is regularly invited to comment on foreign policy issues for NPR, MSNBC, CNN, FOX News, the BBC, the Washington Post, and the New York Times.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Bill Clinton.
Acknowledgments.
Introduction.
1. Things Fall Apart.
2. Crossing the Rubicon.
3. Go as Peacemakers.
4. Force and Diplomacy.
5. A Realistic Foreign Policy?
6. A New Breed of Terrorists.
7. The Myth of Invincibility.
8. Failure to Be on a War Footing.
9. Iraq: A Decade of Deceit.
10. The Hegemons??? Failed Peace.
11. Are We Really Going to War?
12. The African Intervention Gap.
13. Winning the War on Terrorism.
14. Lessons for the President.
Notes.
Index.