A Grand Strategy for America

by Robert J. Art

Overview

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."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801441394
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	07/15/2003
Series:	Cornell Studies in Security Affairs
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.06(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

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).

Table of Contents

Foreword by Richard C. Leone, President of The Century FoundationIntroduction1. The International Setting2. America's National Interests3. Dominion, Collective Security, and Containment4. Selective Engagement5. Isolationism and Offshore Balancing6. Selective Engagement and the Free Hand Strategies7. Implementing Selective EngagementAppendix A. Civil Wars Active between 1991 and 2000
Appendix B. International Wars Active between 1991 and 2000Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

Kenneth N. Waltz

A thorough, forthright, and eminently readable examination of America's grand strategy: what it has been, what it may become, and what it should be.

Joseph S. Nye

How should the United States use its preponderant power in the world? This book is a clear-eyed—and encouraging—answer from a hardheaded and sophisticated realist. Let us hope that our leaders read it!

Robert L. Gallucci

This is an extraordinarily lucid exposition of the choices ahead for America as it charts its course in the complex, rapidly changing, and increasingly dangerous world of the twenty-first century. Robert J. Art sets out to describe the most prudent grand strategy to secure the nation's vital and important interests, and along the way carefully considers other plausible but ultimately less attractive alternatives. The process brings the reader through a constructive application of international relations theory, incisive historical analysis, and a wonderfully textured appreciation of the international setting in which we now find ourselves. One would not expect to add about such a book that it is 'a good read,' but it is. It is at once sophisticated and scholarly, advancing the debate in the academic literature about grand strategy, and at the same time, quite accessible to any citizen interested in our nation's future. A Grand Strategy for America is just what we need.

John J. Mearsheimer

Robert Art writes about American grand strategy in the tradition of Walter Lippmann and George Kennan. In his important new book, Art makes a sophisticated and powerful case for using U.S. military might to dominate Europe, Northeast Asia, and the Persian Gulf, but not to seek global hegemony.

Editorial Reviews

For this American-led international system to continue to be effective, some version of Art's military strategy is an essential component. No clever political or economic scheme, for example, the 'democratic peace' or 'globalization', can compensate for it. Art has given us a first-rate and very useful book.

William E. Odom

Art, a senior and seasoned scholar, deploys his craft masterfully. In A Grand Strategy for America he presents a clearheaded, classical, national-interest analysis that starts with a ranking of America's basic interests.... Art then dissects eight grand strategies to promote American interests against these threats.... Art's analysis is a sober reminder to European and American multilateralists that the use of force remains essential for managing world peace beyond the Atlantic region.

Henry R. Nau

"A brilliant distillation and synthesis of some of the best contemporary scholarship on American grand strategy, Art's new book offers a clear exposition of U.S. national interests and how to defend them."—Foreign Affairs

"Art, a senior and seasoned scholar, deploys his craft masterfully. In A Grand Strategy for America he presents a clearheaded, classical, national-interest analysis that starts with a ranking of America's basic interests. . . . Art then dissects eight grand strategies to promote American interests against these threats. . . . Art's analysis is a sober reminder to European and American multilateralists that the use of force remains essential for managing world peace beyond the Atlantic region."—Henry R. Nau, Perspectives on Politics

"For this American-led international system to continue to be effective, some version of Art's military strategy is an essential component. No clever political or economic scheme, for example, the 'democratic peace' or 'globalization', can compensate for it. Art has given us a first-rate and very useful book."—William E. Odom, Political Science Quarterly

"Art sees six major national interests for the US in the world: preventing an attack on the homeland, preventing major Eurasian arms races and wars, preserving access to foreign oil, preserving an open economic system, promoting democracy and human rights, and protecting the environment, with special attention to global warming. . . Art's preference for a grand strategy of selective engagement with the world is generally well argued. . . . Highly recommended. All levels."—Choice

"Art believes the U.S. should maintain its military deployments in Europe, East Asia, and the Persian Gulf, and wage war when vital or highly important interests are threatened (and occasionally to head off a Rwanda-style genocide), but deplores the unilateralismism and 'arrogance,' and feels the U.S. should pay attention to world opinion, help combat global warming, and eschew missile defense."—Publishers Weekly, 15 July 2003

"This is a truly excellent book, destined to become a classic in the genre. Political leaders would benefit greatly reading it. It should be essential reading for anyone interested in international relations and U.S. foreign policy."—Political Studies Review

"How should the United States use its preponderant power in the world? This book is a clear-eyed—and encouraging—answer from a hardheaded and sophisticated realist. Let us hope that our leaders read it!"—Joseph S. Nye, author of The Paradox of American Power and former Assistant Secretary of Defense

"This is an extraordinarily lucid exposition of the choices ahead for America as it charts its course in the complex, rapidly changing, and increasingly dangerous world of the twenty-first century. Robert J. Art sets out to describe the most prudent grand strategy to secure the nation's vital and important interests, and along the way carefully considers other plausible but ultimately less attractive alternatives. The process brings the reader through a constructive application of international relations theory, incisive historical analysis, and a wonderfully textured appreciation of the international setting in which we now find ourselves. One would not expect to add about such a book that it is 'a good read,' but it is. It is at once sophisticated and scholarly, advancing the debate in the academic literature about grand strategy, and at the same time, quite accessible to any citizen interested in our nation's future. A Grand Strategy for America is just what we need."—Robert L. Gallucci, Dean, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

"Robert Art writes about American grand strategy in the tradition of Walter Lippmann and George Kennan. In his important new book, Art makes a sophisticated and powerful case for using U.S. military might to dominate Europe, Northeast Asia, and the Persian Gulf, but not to seek global hegemony."—John J. Mearsheimer, R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago

"A thorough, forthright, and eminently readable examination of America's grand strategy: what it has been, what it may become, and what it should be."—Kenneth N. Waltz, Institute of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University

From the Publisher

This is a truly excellent book, destined to become a classic in the genre. Political leaders would benefit greatly reading it. It should be essential reading for anyone interested in international relations and U.S. foreign policy.

Political Studies Review

A brilliant distillation and synthesis of some of the best contemporary scholarship on American grand strategy, Art's new book offers a clear exposition of U.S. national interests and how to defend them.

Foreign Affairs