Synopses & Reviews
Review
"Since even before September 11th, Americans have had to confront the question: what should be the role of the United States in a world transformed by the falling away of its only near rival and the emergence of a unipolar world? Recent events have only heightened the urgency of discovering answers. This edited volume addresses this issue in two ways. Its first section usefully offers readers a sharp debate over grand strategy, with different authors (some of national stature) showcasing four competing proposals: neo-isolationism, selective engagement, more consistent cooperation with international institutions, and a more neoconservative emphasis on U.S. primacy and power. Without speaking to their overall persuasiveness, the two best reads are those by Doug Bandow and Charles Kupchan, though the latter hews closely to his earlier book, The End of the American Era. In many books, such discussions of (literally) global policy would be the beginning and end of things. This volume adds a second section with a distinct agenda: connecting grand strategy to the more specific policies the U.S. must adopt toward specific regions of the world. Chapters of very uneven detail and quality address U.S. policy opportunities and constraints in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and, not surprisingly, the Middle East. It is unfortunate that such a volume uses an otherwise interesting essay on the views of Reinhold Niebuhr in place of a conclusion that might have more systematically connected questions of grand strategy to the region-specific chapters. Readers will nonetheless find food for thought." Reviewed by Gerard Alexander, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Synopsis
Some of the nation's most respected scholars of international affairs examine the debates over U.S. grand strategy in light of U.S. security policies and interests in tactical regions around the world. The contributors begin by describing the four grand strategies currently competing for dominance of U.S. foreign policy: neo-isolationism argues that the United States should not become involved in conflicts outside specifically defined national interests selective engagement proposes that the United States, despite its position as the world's only remaining superpower, should limit its involvement in foreign affairs cooperative security advocates that the United States is not and should not act as an imperial country primacy asserts that the United States is an empire and therefore it should conduct an expansive foreign policy. Focusing on regions that present new challenges to U.S. grand strategy, such as Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, the contributors offer the most current examinations of U.S. policies and assess the effectiveness of competing strategies in each region. The Obligation of Empire offers an innovative set of foreign policy initiatives that explore the tensions between global agendas and regionalist approaches.
Contributors: Andrew J. Bacevich, Doug Bandow, Dale Davis, Thomas Donnelly, James J. Hentz, Clifford Kiracofe, Charles Kupchan, Jeffrey Stark, S. Frederick Starr, and Brantley Womack. James J. Hentz, associate professor of international studies at the Virginia Military Institute, is the coeditor of New and Critical Security and Regionalism: Beyond the Nation State.