American Force - (Council on Foreign Relations Book) by Richard Betts (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

While 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.

Review Quotes

a lucid and insightful guide to the use of armed force as an instrument of U.S. power.-- "American Conservative"

American Force deserves to be widely read and debated.--Scott A. Silverstone "H-Diplo Roundtable"

American Force is a well-reasoned and thoughtful critique of the current U.S. national security environment, one that policymakers should not ignore.--Thomas Meagher "H-War"

Betts combines serious thought, common sense, and deep historical knowledge, rather than simply applying abstract theories, and his conclusions are expressed in plain English--Lawrence D. Freedman "Foreign Affairs"

Betts provides a sobering and bluntly honest critique of US force. He does so through clear writing and argument.--David Ryan "International Affairs"

Highly recommended for aficionados of foreign-policy and national-security issues.-- "Kirkus Reviews"

Richard Betts has written an extremely important book that is probably the best critique of the prevalent bipartisan thinking on post-Cold War foreign policy produced to date.... [Betts] has already written four or five classics in the field, and this book adds another to that remarkable list.--Michael O'Hanlon "Political Science Quarterly"

Richard K. Betts is an extraordinarily clear thinker and writer.-- "Survival"

This volume is instructive for policy makers and would be engaging and provocative in the classroom.... Recommeded.-- "Choice"

About the Author

Richard 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.