Free Delivery Over $100
|
|
|||
|
||||
OverviewWhile American national security policy has grown more interventionist since the Cold War, Washington has also hoped to shape the world on the cheap. Misled by the stunning success against Iraq in 1991, administrations of both parties have pursued ambitious aims with limited force, committing the country's military frequently yet often hesitantly, with inconsistent justification. These ventures have produced strategic confusion, unplanned entanglements, and indecisive results. This collection of essays by Richard K. Betts, a leading international politics scholar, investigates the use of American force since the end of the Cold War, suggesting guidelines for making it more selective and successful. Betts brings his extensive knowledge of twentieth century American diplomatic and military history to bear on the full range of theory and practice in national security, surveying the Cold War roots of recent initiatives and arguing that U.S. policy has always been more unilateral than liberal theorists claim. He exposes mistakes made by humanitarian interventions and peace operations; reviews the issues raised by terrorism and the use of modern nuclear, biological, and cyber weapons; evaluates the case for preventive war, which almost always proves wrong; weighs the lessons learned from campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam; assesses the rise of China and the resurgence of Russia; quells concerns about civil-military relations; exposes anomalies within recent defense budgets; and confronts the practical barriers to effective strategy. Betts ultimately argues for greater caution and restraint, while encouraging more decisive action when force is required, and he recommends a more dispassionate assessment of national security interests, even in the face of global instability and unfamiliar threats. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Richard Betts, Jr. (Director - Institute of War and Peace Studies, Department of Political Science)Publisher: Columbia University Press Imprint: Columbia University Press Dimensions: Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.80cm , Length: 22.90cm Weight: 0.624kg ISBN: 9780231151221ISBN 10: 0231151225 Pages: 384 Publication Date: 06 December 2011 Audience: Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , Professional & Vocational , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Manufactured on demand  We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier. Language: English Table of ContentsReviewsIn twelve detailed, well written, and insightful chapters, Dick Betts' American Force: Dangers, Delusions, and Dilemmas in National Security does a masterful job of analyzing all of the important issues that have arisen during the conduct of the post World War II U.S. national security policy. This book is a must read for policymakers and analysts trying to comprehend the current threats to US security as well as developing effective and efficient responses to them. -- Lawrence J. Korb, Assistant Secretary of Defense and Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress In this distillation of a career spent on careful study of America's use of military power, Dick Betts provides a good, strong dose of skepticism. A practical man, remarkably free of ideological cant, Betts has mixed a fine antidote to strategic conceits, a healthy and humbling aid to good judgment. -- Philip Zelikow, Counselor, State Department and Staff Director, 9/11 Commission Richard Betts has long been one of America's smartest, sanest and most knowledgeable scholars of national security affairs. American Force distills his considerable wisdom and offers incisive and clear-eyed analyses of the main security issues that U.S. leaders now faces If those who aspire to be Commander-in-Chief (and those who hope to advise them) could be required to read one book, this should be it. -- Stephen Walt, Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School. <p>In twelve detailed, well written, and insightful chapters, Dick Betts' American Force: Dangers, Delusions, and Dilemmas in National Security does a masterful job of analyzing all of the important issues that have arisen during the conduct of the post World War II U.S. national security policy. This book is a must read for policymakers and analysts trying to comprehend the current threats to US security as well as developing effective and efficient responses to them.--Lawrence J. Korb, Assistant Secretary of Defense and Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress Author InformationRichard K. Betts is director of the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University, adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and author of numerous books on military strategy, intelligence, and foreign policy, including Enemies of Intelligence: Knowledge and Power in American National Security and Soldiers, Statesmen, and Cold War Crises. He has taught at Harvard University and Johns Hopkins University, is a former analyst at the Brookings Institution, and has served on the National Commission on Terrorism, the staffs of the Senate Intelligence Committee and the National Security Council, and the advisory panels for the director of Central Intelligence and State and Defense departments. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
||||
