Download or read book The Great Delusion written by John J. Mearsheimer and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major theoretical statement by a distinguished political scholar explains why a policy of liberal hegemony is doomed to fail It is widely believed in the West that the United States should spread liberal democracy across the world, foster an open international economy, and build international institutions. The policy of remaking the world in America's image is supposed to protect human rights, promote peace, and make the world safe for democracy. But this is not what has happened. Instead, the United States has become a highly militarized state fighting wars that undermine peace, harm human rights, and threaten liberal values at home. In this major statement, the renowned international-relations scholar John Mearsheimer argues that liberal hegemony--the foreign policy pursued by the United States since the Cold War ended--is doomed to fail. It makes far more sense, he maintains, for Washington to adopt a more restrained foreign policy based on a sound understanding of how nationalism and realism constrain great powers abroad. The Great Delusion is a lucid and compelling work of the first importance for scholars, policymakers, and everyone interested in the future of American foreign policy.

Download or read book Arming America through the Centuries written by Benjamin Franklin Cooling and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 2022-09-29 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While many associate the concept commonly referred to as the “military-industrial complex” with President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1961 farewell address, the roots of it existed two hundred years earlier. This concept, as Benjamin Franklin Cooling writes, was “part of historical lore” as a burgeoning American nation discovered the inextricable relationship between arms and the State. In Arming America through the Centuries, Cooling examines the origins and development of the military-industrial complex (MIC) over the course of American history. He argues that the evolution of America’s military-industrial-business-political experience is the basis for a contemporary American Sparta. Cooling explores the influence of industry on security, the increasing prevalence of outsourcing, ever-present economic and political influence, and the evolving nature of modern warfare. He connects the budding military-industrial relations of the colonial era and Industrial Revolution to their formal interdependence during the Cold War down to the present-day resurrection of Great Power competition. Across eight chronological chapters, Cooling weaves together threads of industry, finance, privatization, appropriations, and technology to create a rich historical tapestry of US national defense in one comprehensive volume. Integrating information from both recent works as well as canonical, older sources, Cooling’s ambitious single-volume synthesis is a uniquely accessible and illuminating survey not only for scholars and policymakers but for students and general readers as well.

Download or read book Dying by the Sword written by Monica Duffy Toft and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Through a historical and data-driven review of the US's dominant foreign policy trends from 1776 until today, America the Bully argues that since the end of the Cold War and especially post-9/11, the US has become addicted to military intervention. Lacking clear national strategic goals, the US now pursues a security whack-a-mole policy, more reactionary than deliberate. America the Bully dedicates a chapter to each defining era of US foreign policy, applying selected historical narratives, anecdotes of US foreign policy officials, case study examples, and compelling patterns derived from the data in the Military Intervention Project (MIP). Each chapter highlights the ways in which the US used and balanced primary tools of statecraft - War, Trade, and Diplomacy - to achieve its objectives. It showcases, however, that in recent decades, the US has heavily favored force over the other pillars of statecraft. The book concludes with a warning that if the US does not stem increasing trends of kinetic diplomacy, it may do irrevocable damage its diplomatic corps, dooming it to costly and often useless wars of choice. It may be doomed to the path of reactionary aggression, increasing its military footprint internationally to the detriment of its diplomatic and economic influence. If this trend continues, it could spell disaster for the US's image, credibility, and ultimately, its international and domestic stability"--

Download or read book The Routledge History of Gender War and the U S Military written by Kara Vuic and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-08-15 with total page 531 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge History of Gender, War, and the U.S. Military is the first examination of the interdisciplinary, intersecting fields of gender studies and the history of the United States military. In twenty-one original essays, the contributors tackle themes including gendering the "other," gender and war disability, gender and sexual violence, gender and American foreign relations, and veterans and soldiers in the public imagination, and lay out a chronological examination of gender and America’s wars from the American Revolution to Iraq. This important collection is essential reading for all those interested in how the military has influenced America's views and experiences of gender.

Download or read book Spatial Formats under the Global Condition written by Matthias Middell and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2019-08-05 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contributions to this volume summarize and discuss the theoretical foundations of the Collaborative Research Centre at Leipzig University which address the relationship between processes of (re-)spatialization on the one hand and the establishment and characteristics of spatial formats on the other hand. Under the global condition spatial formats are products of collective negotiations on the most effective and widely acceptable balance between the claim for sovereignty and the need for interconnectedness.

Download or read book Imperial Pilgrims written by Shawn A. Aghajan and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2022-03-29 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an Augustinian interrogation of contemporary Christian accounts of empire, just war, and terrorism. Though Augustine’s voice has guided much of the Christian discourse in these conjoined arenas, it has not shielded his work from being misappropriated to serve ends that are inimical to his own. The US “war on terror” is the most recent and egregious example of violence that many theologians have unjustly baptized as “Augustinian.” By reading Augustine pastorally rather than merely polemically, this work offers a counter-narrative and an alternative praxis for the American Christian trying to reconcile her baptism with her citizenship.

Download or read book The Guise of Exceptionalism written by Robert Fatton and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-16 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American exceptionalism -- Exceptionalism and "unthinkability" -- Manifest Destiny and the American occupation of Haiti -- The American occupation and Haiti's exceptionalism -- Imperial exceptionalism at the turn of the 20th century -- Dictatorship, democratization, and exceptionalism -- The diaspora and the transmogrification of exceptionalism -- Identity politics and modern exceptionalism.

Download or read book The Politics of United States Foreign Policy written by James M. Scott and published by CQ Press. This book was released on 2020-01-21 with total page 553 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This is a deep and well-thought out framework for studying U.S. foreign policy. Its focus on institutions and decision-making sets it apart from other texts, and its ability to help students think systematically and empirically is a major plus" —Matthew Zierler, Michigan State University What are the factors that shape and determine the foreign policy choices of the United States? The Politics of United States Foreign Policy helps students consider the players, processes, and politics that drive U.S. decisions and involvement in foreign policy. James Scott and Jerel Rosati emphasize that society, government, and global forces have a role to play in the struggle over competing values when it comes to foreign policymaking. The book discusses historical patterns, the president’s ability to influence both at home and abroad, and the tension between democracy and national security. Now at CQ Press, the Seventh Edition has been updated to cover developments since the end of the Obama administration, the transition to the Trump administration, the challenges of changing international and domestic contexts, and the increasingly partisan political environment. The authors provide a comprehensive text that blends substance, theory, and stimulating analysis.

Download or read book Compassionate Counterterrorism written by Leena Al Olaimy and published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. This book was released on 2019-02-26 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From purchasing pay-per-view pornography to smoking pot, many so-called Muslim terrorists prove by their actions that they aren't motivated by devotion to religion, Leena Al Olaimy argues. So why do they really turn to violence, and what does that tell us about the most effective way to combat terrorism? Al Olaimy sets the stage by providing a quick, thoughtful grounding in the birth of Islam in a barbaric Game of Thrones–like seventh-century Arabia, the evolution of fundamentalist thought, and the political failures of the postcolonial period. She shows that terrorists are motivated by economic exclusion, lack of opportunity, social marginalization, and political discrimination. This is why using force to counter terrorism is ineffective—it exacerbates the symptoms without treating the cause. Moreover, data shows that military interventions led to the demise of only 12 percent of religious terrorist groups. Combining compelling data with anecdotal evidence, Al Olaimy sheds light on unorthodox and counterintuitive strategies to address social woes that groups like ISIS exploit. For example, she describes how Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, has decreased terrorism while paradoxically becoming more overtly religious. Or how Mechelen, the city with Belgium's largest Muslim population, adopted integration policies so effective that not one of its 20,000 Muslims left to join ISIS. Using religion, neuroscience, farming, and even love, this book offers many inspiring examples and—for once—an optimistic outlook on how we can not just fight but prevent terrorism.

Download or read book Empire by Invitation written by Michel Gobat and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2018-04-02 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Michel Gobat traces the untold story of the rise and fall of the first U.S. overseas empire to William Walker, a believer in the nation’s manifest destiny to spread its blessings not only westward but abroad as well. In the 1850s Walker and a small group of U.S. expansionists migrated to Nicaragua determined to forge a tropical “empire of liberty.” His quest to free Central American masses from allegedly despotic elites initially enjoyed strong local support from liberal Nicaraguans who hoped U.S.-style democracy and progress would spread across the land. As Walker’s group of “filibusters” proceeded to help Nicaraguans battle the ruling conservatives, their seizure of power electrified the U.S. public and attracted some 12,000 colonists, including moral reformers. But what began with promises of liberation devolved into a reign of terror. After two years, Walker was driven out. Nicaraguans’ initial embrace of Walker complicates assumptions about U.S. imperialism. Empire by Invitation refuses to place Walker among American slaveholders who sought to extend human bondage southward. Instead, Walker and his followers, most of whom were Northerners, must be understood as liberals and democracy promoters. Their ambition was to establish a democratic state by force. Much like their successors in liberal-internationalist and neoconservative foreign policy circles a century later in Washington, D.C., Walker and his fellow imperialists inspired a global anti-U.S. backlash. Fear of a “northern colossus” precipitated a hemispheric alliance against the United States and gave birth to the idea of Latin America.

Download or read book American National Security written by Michael J. Meese and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2018-09-03 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This classic text provides a rich and nuanced discussion of American national security policymaking. American National Security remains the ideal foundational text for courses in national security, foreign policy, and security studies. Every chapter in this edition has been extensively revised, and the book includes discussion of recent security policy changes in the Trump administration. Highlights include: • An updated look at national security threats, military operations, and homeland security challenges • An analysis of the evolving roles of the president, Congress, the intelligence community, the military, and other institutions involved in national security • A revised consideration of the strengths, limitations, and employment of instruments of national power, including diplomacy, information, economic tools, and armed forces • An exploration of the economic and national security implications of globalization • An enhanced examination of the proliferation of transnational threats, including security challenges in space and in cyberspace • A new assessment of how international, political, and economic trends may change US leadership of the post–World War II international order • A comprehensive update on changing dynamics in key states and regions, including Russia, China, East Asia, the Middle East, South Asia, Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America An authoritative book that explains US national security policy, actors, and processes in a wide-ranging yet understandable way, American National Security addresses key issues, including challenges to the free and open international order, the reemergence of strategic competition among great powers, terrorism, economic and fiscal constraints, and rapid advances in information and technology.

Download or read book Greytown is no more written by Will Soper and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2023-02-14 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Central American port of Greytown was destroyed by the U.S. Navy in 1854 to "avenge an insult to the American Minister to Nicaragua," according to official history. Two weeks later, the New York Tribune reported the intrigues that really doomed the port: Greytown had been a hindrance to the supremacy of a U.S.-owned steamboat company and to the colonization plans of American land speculators. Both interests used pretexts to convince the U.S. government to level the town. When an American sued for damages, he lost, resulting in a case law still cited to justify military interventions without the Congressional approval required by the Constitution. This book corrects the record regarding the causes of Greytown's destruction, and challenges the case law, based as it is on a gross misapprehension of events.

Download or read book America and the China Threat written by Paolo Urio and published by SCB Distributors. This book was released on 2020-01-01 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The US has historically disguised – to itself and to others – the true nature of its relations with those nations that stood in the way of its ambitions. Reversing the order of cause and effect, it has projected fear of harm from other nations even as it was expanding its dominion over them. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was so to be feared that the American people could even be told they would be “better dead than Red”, the US rejoiced in the belief that the world was at last under its uncontested leadership, celebrating Francis Fukuyama's then acclaimed book The End of History, and proclaiming, perhaps even believing, that it alone can assure peace, stability and prosperity in the international system. However, at the beginning of the 21st century, a formidable new competitor emerged: China. Now we hear the fear-stoked mantra, “The Chinese are coming...!” But is China really a threat to the US, or just to its sole superpower status? This book debunks, among many others, the myth of the universality of US values, and the myth of the imperial, dictatorial and state capitalist character of today's China. It explains the division between the US and China through an historical analysis of their ideologies. It reveals the source of the extraordinary difficulty the US faces in adapting to the changes occurring in the international system: inter alia, the firm belief in its exceptionalism and good intentions. By contrast, the Chinese ideology, while also possessing a remarkable internal coherence through time, has achieved greater flexibility by integrating values imported from the West and several Confucian values, to form a new ideology better able to adapt its public policies to changes in the national and the international environments. China's significant military and economic advances are addressed, along with its new investments and One Belt, One Road Initiative.

Download or read book Indirect Rule written by David A. Lake and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2024-02-15 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Indirect Rule examines how states indirectly exercise authority over others and how this mode of rule affects domestic and international politics. Indirect rule has long characterized interstate relationships and US foreign relations. A key mechanism of international hierarchy, indirect rule involves an allied group within a client state adopting policies preferred by a dominant state in exchange for the dominant state's support. Drawing on the history of US involvement in the Caribbean and Central America, Western Europe, and the Arab Middle East, David A. Lake shows that indirect rule is more likely to occur when the specific assets at risk are large and governance costs are low. Lake's conceptualization of indirect rule sharpens our understanding of how the United States came to occupy the pinnacle of world power. Yet the consequences of indirect rule he documents—including anti-Americanism—reveal its shortcomings. As US efforts at democracy promotion and other forms of intervention abroad face declining support at home, Indirect Rule compels us to consider whether this method of rule ultimately advances US interests.

Download or read book Global Issues 2020 Edition written by CQ Researcher, and published by CQ Press. This book was released on 2019-11-12 with total page 997 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by award-winning CQ Researcher journalists, this collection of non-partisan reports offers an in-depth examination of today’s most pressing global issues. With reports ranging from U.S. foreign policy, cryptocurrency, and the rise in extreme weather events, the 2020 Edition of Global Issues promotes in-depth discussion, facilitates further research, and helps readers formulate their own positions on crucial global issues. And because it’s CQ Researcher, the reports are expertly researched and written, presenting readers with all sides of an issue. Key Features Chapters follow a consistent organization, beginning with a summary of the issue, then exploring a number of key questions around the issue, next offering background to put the issue into current context, and concluding with a look ahead. A pro/con debate box in every chapter offers readers the opportunity to critically analyze and discuss the issues by exploring a debate between two experts in the field. All issues include a chronology, a bibliography, photos, charts, and figures to offer readers a more complete picture of the issue at hand.

Download or read book The Fall of Israel written by Dan Steinbock and published by SCB Distributors. This book was released on 2025-01-01 with total page 439 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The path to the obliteration of Gaza was paved by the confluence of a set of longstanding forces. This great conjuncture has transformed Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories while driving the region to the edge. In The Fall of Israel, Dr Dan Steinbock connects the dots among these lethal headwinds. What makes The Fall of Israel unique is its comprehensive scope. It covers Israel's political, economic, social and military changes, the shifts in the Palestinian struggle for sovereignty, Israel's degradation into apartheid rule, the attendant atrocities, the regional and global reverberations and the human and economic costs, both prior and subsequent to Israel’s fatal war on Gaza. There, its nightmarish actions have led to the engagement of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, renewed international boycotts, and massive domestic and international protests. The Fall of Israel outlines the central drivers of this simmering tinderbox: the serial expulsions of Palestinians, the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, a half century of failed U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East and Israel’s militarization, enabled by the symbiotic bilateral ties with the U.S. and massive U.S. military aid. In the Gaza War, these ties fostered paradigms of devastation, such as the Dahiya doctrine and mass assassination factories, backed by pioneering artificial intelligence. The settlements have contributed to the destabilization of the broader region since the early 1970s, and are now compounding its politico-economic and geopolitical crisis. This book addresses the efforts to institute a Jewish rather than a secular state. It shows how the postwar labor alignments were replaced by the hard-right coalitions, thanks to U.S. neoliberal economic policies, assertive neoconservatism and Jewish-American donors. It also explains the causes behind the rise of the Messianic far-right, centrist parties, and the failure of the Left. The corrosion of Israeli society and politics was already reflected in and driven by an economy constrained by adverse erosion, as reflected by the liabilities of its high-tech cluster, the talent “brain drain,” the threatened welfare state and subsidized religious sector. But now, the already evident politico-economic costs to Israel of the Gaza war have set the stage for extraordinary uncertainty in the foreseeable future.

Download or read book The Toddler in Chief written by Daniel W. Drezner and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2020-04-07 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “[An] avalanche of repeated presidential absurdity. The reader realizes that this pattern is not part of the Trump presidency; it is the whole thing.” —Washington Post “Americans should know that there are adults in the room. . . . And we are trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump won’t.” —An anonymous senior administrative official in a New York Times op-ed, September 5, 2018 Every president faces criticism and caricature. Donald Trump, however, is unique in that he is routinely characterized in ways more suitable for a toddler. What’s more, it is not just Democrats, pundits, or protestors who compare the president to a child; Trump’s staffers, subordinates, and allies also describe Trump like a badly behaved preschooler. Daniel W. Drezner began curating every example he could find of a Trump ally describing the president like a toddler. So far, he’s collected more than one thousand tweets. In The Toddler-in-Chief, Drezner draws on these examples to take readers through the different dimensions of Trump’s infantile behavior, from temper tantrums to poor impulse control. How much damage can really be done by a giant man-baby? Quite a lot, Drezner argues, due to the winnowing away of presidential checks and balances over the past fifty years. Drezner also shows the lasting impact the Trump administration will have on American foreign policy and democracy, exhorting the American people to think carefully about the person they elect to be the next commander-in-chief. He also shows how we must rethink the terrifying powers we have given the presidency. “Occasionally funny . . . also overwhelmingly grim.” —New York Times “[A] crisp, witty and highly readable philippic.” —New Statesman