The Unquiet Frontier: Rising Rivals, Vulnerable Allies, and the Crisis of American Power

by Jakub J. Grygiel, A. Wess Mitchell, Jakub J. Grygiel (Preface by), A. Wess Mitchell (Preface by)

Overview

How America's vulnerable frontier allies—and American power—are being targeted by rival nations

From the Baltic to the South China Sea, newly assertive authoritarian states sense an opportunity to resurrect old empires or build new ones at America's expense. Hoping that U.S. decline is real, nations such as Russia, Iran, and China are testing Washington's resolve by targeting vulnerable allies at the frontiers of American power. The Unquiet Frontier explains why the United States needs a new grand strategy that uses strong frontier alliance networks to raise the costs of military aggression in the new century.

Jakub Grygiel and Wess Mitchell describe the aggressive methods rival nations are using to test U.S. power in strategically critical regions throughout the world. They show how rising and revisionist powers are putting pressure on our frontier allies—countries like Poland, Israel, and Taiwan—to gauge our leaders' commitment to upholding the U.S.-led global order. To cope with these dangerous dynamics, nervous U.S. allies are diversifying their national-security "menu cards" by beefing up their militaries or even aligning with their aggressors. Grygiel and Mitchell reveal how numerous would-be great powers use an arsenal of asymmetric techniques to probe and sift American strength across several regions simultaneously, and how rivals and allies alike are learning from America's management of increasingly interlinked global crises to hone effective strategies of their own.

The Unquiet Frontier demonstrates why the United States must strengthen the international order that has provided greater benefits to the world than any in history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691178264
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	08/15/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	248
Sales rank:	83,351
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Jakub J. Grygiel is a senior fellow-in-residence at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). He is the author of Great Powers and Geopolitical Change. A. Wess Mitchell is president of the Center for European Policy Analysis, a foreign policy institute with offices in Washington D.C. and Warsaw, Poland.

Table of Contents

List Of Illustrations viii

Acknowledgments ix

Preface To The Paperback Edition xiii

1 Introduction: American Power At The Global Frontier 1

2 America’s Deprioritization Of Allies 15

3 Revisionist Powers’ Probing Behavior 42

4 Responses Of U.S. Allies 77

5 The Benefits Of Alliances 117

6 Recommendations 155

Notes 191

Selected Bibliography 207

Index 217

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"The Unquiet Frontier is the most lucid and penetrating analysis I've read about the Obama administration's most signal weakness—its failure to inspire and reassure allies. Geography and history, the two key elements of any classic text on the subject, dominate the narrative. This is a short book with an epic thesis."—Robert D. Kaplan, author of In Europe's Shadow: Two Cold Wars and a Thirty-Year Journey through Romania and Beyond

"In the looming debate about America's global strategy, the security of central Europe is likely to be one of the key issues. Grygiel and Mitchell's incisive and wide-ranging book provides a vital tool for rethinking the fundamentals of what is strategically necessary."—Zbigniew Brzezinski, Center for Strategic and International Studies

"An incisive analysis of the threats that face the frontier states of the Western liberal democratic order. This is an important book for anyone concerned about the defense of the hard-won stability and liberty that we enjoy, as well as about the toxic strategic dangers threatening us now that the post-Cold War era is over."—Toomas Hendrik Ilves, president of Estonia

"In an era when so many decisions are made at the spur of the moment, it's refreshing to read Grygiel and Mitchell's call for a new grand strategy, for a new attitude to allies and alliances, and above all for deeper, longer-term thinking about America's role in the world."—Anne Applebaum, author of Gulag: A History

"Grygiel and Mitchell join the ongoing debate over the future of American grand strategy and offer a compelling refutation of the idea that the United States can safely draw back from the positions it currently maintains around the world. They make the case that, far from being a burden with which Washington might be wise to dispense, America's alliances are actually critical to its continued security and prosperity."—Aaron L. Friedberg, author of A Contest for Supremacy: China, America, and the Struggle for Mastery in Asia

"Grygiel and Mitchell argue with convincing force and eloquence that America's alliance system is valuable, underappreciated, and increasingly vulnerable to pressure from revisionist states. Their book is a powerful rebuttal to those who contend that overseas alliances today are no longer relevant to American security. A brilliant, original, and timely reminder of why the United States has allies in the first place."—Colin Dueck, author of The Obama Doctrine: American Grand Strategy Today

Editorial Reviews

"The book offers a realist critique of American grand strategy in the contemporary geopolitical landscape. Grygiel and Mitchell lay out a highly readable if grim assessment of US alliance relationships , especially with NATO, Central Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia, and why they are so important for managing the dangers posed by rising rivals, namely Russia, Iran, and China. . . . Timely and provocative."

Choice

"Original and provocative."

Perspectives on Politics

"[Grygiel and Mitchell] paint a stark and compelling picture of the emerging geopolitical landscape. They remind us that, in the post–Cold War era, geopolitics matters."—-H. R. McMaster, Wall Street Journal

From the Publisher

12/07/2015
Washington, D.C., geopolitical strategists Grygiel and Mitchell team up to make a persuasive case that strong U.S. alliances with frontier states help preserve global security. In the authors’ view, rising powers Russia, China, and Iran now discern a “void” in American foreign policy and growing tendency to ignore the world, intensified by fatigue with the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. As the U.S. puts less work into maintaining its alliances, these rivals are becoming more aggressive at probing American weaknesses. An eye-opening, disturbing chapter explains recent moves by these countries as ways of testing American strength. As a result, U.S. frontline allies, notably Israel, Poland, and Taiwan, are growing more nervous. Emphasizing both the importance and fragility of the American system of alliances, the authors argue that a retreat from time-honored obligations is potentially more costly to international stability than any continuing burden. In their view, the U.S.’s primary rivals offer no stable alternative––only a desire to destroy––an international order built and maintained by the U.S. that offers vast benefits to the world. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

2015-12-06
An indictment of America's neglect of its global web of alliances. American postwar foreign policy has been based on building regional clusters of allies, small or midsize powers located near a maritime choke point or critical land corridor. Grygiel (Advanced International Studies/Johns Hopkins Univ.; Great Powers and Geopolitical Change, 2006) and policy analyst Mitchell assert that recently, "the view has begun to take root in the United States that these sprawling alliances are a liability—either because of the costs they impose…or because of the perils of entrapment in conflicts involving faraway disputes….But these view are wrong—and dangerous." The authors contend that the active maintenance of these alliances is the most dependable and cost-effective way to uphold a global order that supports our ability to sustain economic growth and prosperity through international trade. In particular, they deplore the recent apparent deprioritization of alliances in favor of seeking grand bargains with other rising powers, criticizing complacent rhetoric and attitudes that characterize friendly and competitor states alike as "partners." Perhaps most usefully, the authors place into a coherent context the "probing" activities of Russia, Iran, and China—provocative acts launched on the fringes of American influence to test the extent of our resolve—and then describe how our responses or lack thereof are influencing the national security policies of borderland states, often to our long-term disadvantage. Grygiel and Mitchell advocate a rebuilding and reorganization of our alliances in forms appropriate to each of the three presently critical arenas. The authors' viewpoint is well-argued and incisive; they do, however, review it very thoroughly, sometimes to the point of tedious repetition, and their prose is often dense and wonkish. At a time when American foreign policy often seems adrift, the authors' vigorous advocacy of a renewed clear-headed engagement with allies is a bracing contribution to discussions of this ongoing conundrum.

Kirkus Reviews