US Grand Strategy in the 21st Century

'After a desultory post-Cold War insider debate, the US national security establishment settled on an ambitious grand strategy to integrate states great and small into a US led liberal international order. Despite the poor performance of this grand strategy for the last quarter century, particularly its propensity for war, advocates continue to rely on a handful of key arguments as to why it is both essential and doable. This book takes on these arguments one by one, and demonstrates their weakness. The key elements of a new, more cautious, and more cost-effective grand strategy-restraint are then systematically advanced and assembled into a coherent whole. Those uneasy with the present US course of action, and hungry for an alternative, will find allies in these pages.' -- Barry R. Posen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

'A. Trevor Thrall and Benjamin H. Friedman have assembled the intellectual A-Team of national security analysts in US Grand Strategy in the 21st Century. Covering the regional and functional waterfront, the authors of this timely and compelling volume demonstrate that the American pursuit of global hegemony over the past quarter century has been neither necessary nor realistic. The only puzzle remaining after reading this essential corrective to America's collective Liberal hegemonic delusion is why we fell for any alternative to restraint?' -- Michael Desch, University of Notre Dame, USA

'The essays in this volume shine a bright and skeptical light on America’s global military commitments, and make a compelling case for restraint in US strategy. The book includes fruitful discussions of the social science literature bearing on various strategic questions like nuclear proliferation, oil security, democracy promotion, and military intervention. It offers superb dissections of the role of distance, national character, public opinion, and built-up military institutions in shaping national strategy. The authors show, with keen argument and telling evidence, that restraint rather than primacy offers a superior route to ensuring America’s security, liberty, and prosperity.' -- David Hendrickson, Colorado College, USA

‘America’s recent unhappy experiences in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya have caused many Americans to question the basic contours of US foreign policy, but they lack the confidence to challenge these ideas directly, and they are uncertain about realistic alternatives. This book helps fill in the details. It shows why warfare in the 21st century is unlikely to produce desirable results at reasonable costs. It challenges the notion that a forward-leaning US military posture is required to produce safety and prosperity. And it shows why a more restrained foreign policy would better align with classic American values of limited constitutional government, individual liberty, free markets, and peace. Taken together, the entries in this volume reassure readers that the United States can remain engaged in a complex world without having to manage it.’--Christopher Preble, Vice President of Defense and Foreign Policy, the Cato Institute, Washington DC, USA