Synopses & Reviews
Contrary to popular expectations, the end of the Cold War did not push aside the military components of U.S. foreign policy. In the last decade of the 20th century threats and applications of force often took center stage, ranging from the major war against Iraq to coercive bombing in the Balkans to peacekeeping operations for implementing diplomatic settlements to the delivery of humanitarian aid. Seyom Brown maintains that, despite popular reluctance, the use force as an instrument of foreign policy is likely to grow in the 21st Century, and that this prospect warrants concern and open debateThe increased willingness to consider force as a normal tool of diplomacy has been prompted by both a politically chaotic world in which the globally-dispersed interests of the United States are the targets of hostile threats, and by the so-called Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA), which promises to bring an unprecedented degree of controllability into the conduct of war. Brown argues that the promise of controllable, precisely calibrated war to serve the country's foreign policy objectives is a dangerous illusion. He offers a set of guidelines designed to make sure that a heavy burden of justification is always borne by those urging the resort to military force.
Synopsis
This provocative book assesses the implications of a disturbing trend in U.S. security policy: an increased willingness to use military force as an instrument of diplomacy. In The Illusion of Control, Seyom Brown shows how U.S. officials are relying on force to counter a wide range of threats to Americas global interestseclipsing previous strategies that restricted the use of military force to situations in which the countrys vital interests were at stake. Brown points out that a disposition to employ military power broadly as an instrument of diplomacy was on the rise well before September 11, 2001 and it shows every sign of persisting into the future. While resorting to force may seem to be a reliable way to establish control over a disorderly world, Brown cautions that expecting to gain and maintain control through military prowess could turn out to be a dangerous illusion. In fact, employing new military technologies in an effort to control international terrorist activities, wars, and civil conflicts is likely to pull the United States into excessive commitments and imprudent action. Brown analyzes the growing willingness of U.S. government officials to use force, then critically assesses the strategic, political, and moral implications for the United States. Adapting traditional just war concepts to contemporary strategic, political, and technological realities, he offers a set of guidelines to help ensure that use-of-force decisions are approached with the judicious care and gravity they warrant.