US Foreign Policy and Defense Strategy: The Evolution of an Incidental Superpower

by Derek S. Reveron, Nikolas K. Gvosdev, Mackubin Thomas Owens

Overview

Safe from the battlefields of Europe and Asia, the United States led the post–World War II global economic recovery through international assistance and foreign direct investment. With an ardent decolonization agenda and a postwar legitimacy, the United States attempted to construct a world characterized by cooperation. When American optimism clashed with Soviet expansionism, the United States started on a path to global hegemony.

In US Foreign Policy and Defense Strategy, the authors analyze the strategic underpinnings of hegemony, assess the national security establishment that sustains dominance, consider the impact on civil-military relations, and explore the intertwining relationships between foreign policy, defense strategy, and commercial activities. Eschewing conventional analyses, the volume not only identifies drivers and continuities in foreign policy, but it also examines how the legacy of the last sixty-five years will influence future national security policy that will be characterized by US leadership in an increasingly competitive world.

From civil-military relations to finance, and from competing visions of how America should make war to its philosophy of securing peace through reconstruction and reconciliation, US Foreign Policy and Defense Strategy offers unique insights into the links between military and commercial power as it charts the rise of a historical rarity: the incidental superpower. This accessibly written book is suitable for students and general readers as well as scholars.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626161580
Publisher:	Georgetown University Press
Publication date:	01/15/2015
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Derek S. Reveron is a professor of national security affairs and the EMC Informationist Chair at the US Naval War College. He is the author or editor of several books including Cyberspace and National Security: Threats, Opportunities, and Power in a Virtual World.

Nikolas K. Gvosdev is a professor of national security affairs at the US Naval War College and currently serves as the director of the Policy Analysis subcourse in the National Security Affairs Department. He is the author or editor of several books including Russian Foreign Policy: Interests, Vectors, and Sectors.

Mackubin Thomas Owens is the editor of Orbis, the quarterly journal of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and former professor of national security affairs at the US Naval War College. He is the author of US Civil-Military Relations after 9/11: Renegotiating the Civil-Military Bargain.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1 From Regional Power to Global Superpower
2 The American Way of Organizing for Defense
3 The American Way of Civil-Military Relations
4 Drivers, Continuities, and Challenges of US Foreign Policy
5 The American Way of Warfare
6 The American Way of Peace
7 Financing the American Way
8 Conclusion: The Future of US Foreign Policy and Defense Strategy

About the Authors

Index

What People are Saying About This

Colin Dueck

Reveron, Gvosdev, and Owens have produced a very useful, stimulating, and timely survey of US foreign and national security policy, offering fresh insight into both the American way of war and the American way of peace. Touching on everything from political culture and finance to military organization, they rightly suggest America's world role has been incidental, rather than accidental—that while US involvement overseas has often been ad hoc and reactive, it is nevertheless driven by certain enduring national interests. Highly recommended.

From the Publisher

"Reveron, Gvosdev, and Owens have produced a very useful, stimulating, and timely survey of US foreign and national security policy, offering fresh insight into both the American way of war and the American way of peace. Touching on everything from political culture and finance to military organization, they rightly suggest America's world role has been incidental, rather than accidental—that while US involvement overseas has often been ad hoc and reactive, it is nevertheless driven by certain enduring national interests. Highly recommended."—Colin Dueck, associate professor in the School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs , George Mason University

"US Foreign Policy and Defense Strategy is a must-read for all policymakers and scholars who influence the debate about the American role in international affairs. Drawing on a wealth of expertise and sound analysis . . . this immensely important book helps modern audiences consider how the United States is likely to confront new challenges in the world."—William Martel, author of Victory in War: Foundations of Modern Strategy and associate professor of International Security Studies at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University

William Martel

US Foreign Policy and Defense Strategy is a must-read for all policymakers and scholars who influence the debate about the American role in international affairs. Drawing on a wealth of expertise and sound analysis . . . this immensely important book helps modern audiences consider how the United States is likely to confront new challenges in the world.

Editorial Reviews

Despite having multiple authors, the book is not merely a compilation of their respective writings on related subjects but rather a well-integrated and superbly researched study. . . . The strength of the arguments presented in the book will not fade with time but will continue to be a scholarly source for understanding how the United States historically managed the challenges of being a superpower. . . . I highly recommend this book.

Strategic Studies Quarterly

An extremely useful compendium of the origins and fundamentals of . . . American global hegemony.

Classics of Strategy

Perfect for both the undergraduate and graduate classroom, since all its chapters include comprehensive, unbiased, concise, and quite readable reviews of the major concepts and debates regarding the subjects they cover.

H-Diplo

An extremely useful compendium of the origins and fundamentals of . . . American global hegemony.

Despite having multiple authors, the book is not merely a compilation of their respective writings on related subjects but rather a well-integrated and superbly researched study. . . . The strength of the arguments presented in the book will not fade with time but will continue to be a scholarly source for understanding how the United States historically managed the challenges of being a superpower. . . . I highly recommend this book.

Perfect for both the undergraduate and graduate classroom, since all its chapters include comprehensive, unbiased, concise, and quite readable reviews of the major concepts and debates regarding the subjects they cover.

From the Publisher

US Foreign Policy and Defense Strategy is a must-read for all policymakers and scholars who influence the debate about the American role in international affairs. Drawing on a wealth of expertise and sound analysis . . . this immensely important book helps modern audiences consider how the United States is likely to confront new challenges in the world.

William Martel

Reveron, Gvosdev, and Owens have produced a very useful, stimulating, and timely survey of US foreign and national security policy, offering fresh insight into both the American way of war and the American way of peace. Touching on everything from political culture and finance to military organization, they rightly suggest America's world role has been incidental, rather than accidental—that while US involvement overseas has often been ad hoc and reactive, it is nevertheless driven by certain enduring national interests. Highly recommended.

Colin Dueck