Why America Can't Retrench (and How It Might)

1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-1-5095-6209-1
Verlag: Polity Press

Buch, Englisch, 272 Seiten, Format (B × H): 148 mm x 222 mm, Gewicht: 445 g

Even as growing polarization and hyper-partisanship define society and politics at home, American leaders seem to agree on one thing: US military dominance abroad is essential for national security and international stability. This is despite an upswing in popular support for “doing less” overseas.

What explains Washington’s blinkered view of its foreign policy options? Why is the pursuit of military primacy so deeply entrenched in America that alternative approaches have become unthinkable?

The answer, argues Peter Harris, can be found at the level of domestic politics. The modern US state was built during World War II and the Cold War to support a globe-spanning and long-term effort to project military power abroad. This domestic order is hardwired to reject foreign policies of restraint or retrenchment. If the United States is ever to assume a more normal world role, it must first undergo a period of domestic reform, renewal, and realignment. This book explains what these domestic changes might look like – and how a grand strategy of restraint can be implemented from the inside out.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Harris, Peter

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Geschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Studien zu einzelnen Ländern und Gebieten
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements
Dedication

Introduction
1 Waves of Expansion, 1857–present
2 The Restraint Debate
3 Making the Militarist State
4 America’s Primacists
5 Unfit for Peace
6 Domestic Renewal
7 Internationalism Anew

Notes

Über Autor(innen)

Peter Harris is Associate Professor of Political Science at Colorado State University, where his teaching and research focus on international security and US foreign policy. He is also a Non-Resident Fellow with Defense Priorities.