Foreign Policy Begins at Home: The Case for Putting America's House in Order

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Overview

The biggest threat to the United States comes not from abroad but from within. This is the provocative, timely, and unexpected message of Council on Foreign Relations President Richard N. Haass’s Foreign Policy Begins at Home.

A rising China, climate change, terrorism, a nuclear Iran, a turbulent Middle East, and a reckless North Korea all present serious challenges. But U.S. national security depends even more on the United States addressing its burgeoning deficit and debt, ...

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Foreign Policy Begins at Home: The Case for Putting America's House in Order

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Overview

The biggest threat to the United States comes not from abroad but from within. This is the provocative, timely, and unexpected message of Council on Foreign Relations President Richard N. Haass’s Foreign Policy Begins at Home.

A rising China, climate change, terrorism, a nuclear Iran, a turbulent Middle East, and a reckless North Korea all present serious challenges. But U.S. national security depends even more on the United States addressing its burgeoning deficit and debt, crumbling infrastructure, second class schools, and outdated immigration system.

Foreign Policy Begins at Home describes a twenty-first century in which power is widely diffused. Globalization, revolutionary technologies, and the rise and decline of new and old powers have created a “nonpolar” world of American primacy but not domination. So far, it has been a relatively forgiving world, with no great rival threatening America directly. How long this strategic respite lasts, according to Haass, will depend largely on whether the United States puts its own house in order.

Haass argues for a new American foreign policy: Restoration. At home, the new doctrine would have the country concentrate on restoring the economic foundations of American power. Overseas, the U.S. would stop trying to remake the Middle East with military force, instead emphasizing maintaining the balance of power in Asia, promoting economic integration and energy self-sufficiency in North America, and working to promote collective responses to global challenges.

Haass rejects both isolationism and the notion of American decline. But he argues the United States is underperforming at home and overreaching abroad. Foreign Policy Begins at Home lays out a compelling vision for restoring America’s power, influence, and ability to lead the world.

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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher
“This informative, well-written book is a necessary addition to any collection providing either experts or citizens with new and rational discussion of America’s place in the world today.”
—Library Journal

“Lessons learned from the recent past and presented thoughtfully as a viable new course.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Richard Haass has long been a keen observer of the US position on the world stage, and his must-read book is no exception. Haass rightly explains that if the United States is to continue fulfilling the leadership role it has had since World War II, our country must be more restrained in what it does abroad and put its house in order at home by defusing the looming fiscal debt bomb that threatens our national security and global standing.”
—James A. Baker, III.

“A concise, comprehensive guide to America’s critical policy choices at home and overseas. Richard Haass writes without a partisan agenda, but with a passion for solutions designed to restore our country’s strength and enable us to lead.”
—Madeleine K. Albright

“A perceptive diagnosis and common sense prescription for what ails us as a nation. It is a practical guide for those who believe America's continued global leadership is critical in the twenty-first century, but who believe it must be anchored in restoration at home and more effective use of all the tools of American foreign policy abroad.”
—Robert M. Gates

“Richard Haass is one America’s most insightful and experienced thinkers. In Foreign Policy Begins at Home, Haass explains why our ability to wield power and influence abroad will depend on our confronting pressing challenges at home. He offers a sobering look at the domestic policies that are undermining our international competitiveness – and a thoughtful roadmap for strengthening America’s position on the global stage.”
—Michael R. Bloomberg

“Richard N. Haass shows us that maintaining America's leadership in the world will require significant reforms within our own borders. Full of insight but without polemics or preachiness, it clearly demonstrates that our ability to inspire, influence, cooperate with or deter others depends upon our ability to promote shared prosperity and social progress at home.”
—William Jefferson Clinton

Library Journal
This book can be seen as a follow-up to earlier works by the prolific Haass (president, Council on Foreign Relations; The Opportunity: America's Moment To Alter History's Course). The major development here is in Haass's shift of focus to domestic economic policy as the foundation of U.S. power. He notes the current national budget debates, which, he says, result from systemic changes in the U.S. economy and in international geoeconomic realities that impact our national security. The book is divided into two sections. The first sets the stage through a discussion of the major aspects of the international realities of the post-Cold War world. Here Haass also examines the post-9/11 world and the challenges to international cooperation after the onset of the global financial crisis of 2008. The second half focuses on a more discriminating and pragmatic foreign policy that is supported by a more disciplined domestic policy. Given his clear discussion and a new look at the opportunity for renewed international leadership, Haass can be labeled as neither a defeatist nor an isolationist. VERDICT This informative, well-written book is a necessary addition to any collection providing either experts or citizens with new and rational discussion of America's place in the world today.—Marcus Kieltyka, Central Washington Univ. Lib., Ellensburg
Kirkus Reviews
Council on Foreign Relations president Haass (War of Necessity, War of Choice: A Memoir of Two Iraq Wars, 2010, etc.) makes the case for "a new approach to domestic and foreign policy." The author states from the outset that the United States "must restore the domestic foundations of its power" if it is to continue to act successfully abroad. He argues for a rebalancing of issues that bridge domestic and foreign policy. The U.S. could then operate under more realistic premises, less ready to deploy military force "in large-scale, military-dominated experiments." Haass points out that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan account for "15 percent of the debt accumulated since 2001" and that "imperial overstretch is, at most, a contributing cause of America's economic predicament." Since no power, or combination of powers, represents an existential threat, and great power conflict is unlikely for the foreseeable future, the author concludes that there is an opportunity to restore the sources of foreign power through rebuilding domestically: Restore solvency, encourage domestic energy production and the growth of trade and investment, rebuild domestic infrastructure, and focus on education in citizenship. Haass also notes that there would be further consequences for foreign policy as resources were increased to meet internal as opposed to international challenges--e.g., the current focus on the Middle East and large-scale land wars would need to be reassessed. The author advocates caution in pursuing doctrinal goals, such as the promotion of democracy, arguing that outcomes should not be artificially predefined or constrained by any single path or sequence of events. He hopes "abstractions and optimism do not overwhelm assessments of national interests and realities." Lessons learned from the recent past and presented thoughtfully as a viable new course.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780465057986
  • Publisher: Basic Books
  • Publication date: 4/30/2013
  • Pages: 208
  • Sales rank: 1424
  • Product dimensions: 6.40 (w) x 9.10 (h) x 1.00 (d)

Meet the Author

Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations since July 2003, was previously director of policy planning for the Department of State, where he was a principal advisor to Colin Powell. From 1989-1993, he was special assistant to President George H. W. Bush and senior director for the Near East and South Asia on the staff of the National Security Council. Haass also served in the Reagan and Carter administrations. The recipient of the State Department’s Distinguished Honor Award and the Presidential Citizens Medal, he is the author or editor of twelve other books. Haass lives in New York City.
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