An Empire If You Can Keep It

by Magstadt, Thomas M.

• ISBN13: 9781568028798
• ISBN10: 1568028792
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-02-01
• Publisher: Cq Pr

Summary

If you want to get your students to really read the American foreign policy book you assign&BAD:-to fully digest and assimilate its content&BAD:-select a book that is compelling, thought provoking, and relevant. Drawing on the Bush administration&BAD:rs"s foreign policy maneuvering and the realities of a post&BAD:9/11 world, Thomas M. Magstadt goes beyond a mere recitation of events in U.S. diplomatic history. He instead paints a vivid portrayal of the tension between the pursuit of power and the adherence to principle deeply embedded in the nation&BAD:rs"s political culture.Magstadt traces the country&BAD:rs"s move from vulnerable upstart in 1789 to great power by 1898 to unrivaled dominance at the turn of the twenty-first century. The United States started off relatively weak in the international balance of power system, giving rise to isolationism and a rhetorical flourish grounded in moral principles. But now, as the world&BAD:rs"s only superpower, considerations of security and self-interest compete head-to-head with the moral imperative for global leadership and the promotion of democratic ideals.The dynamics of process also matter in this struggle. This brief text illuminates the complexities of both policy&BAD: and decision-making in a way that balances coverage more compactly and more analytically than core texts do, thereby improving readability and student critical thinking.An Empire If You Can Keep It avoids polemics but does not shy away from the controversy raging in intellectual and policy circles over the Bush Doctrine. Magstadt places recent foreign policy developments in the context of America&BAD:rs"s historic sense of purpose, stressing the search for a new consensus and a new balance between power and principle, between hard and soft power.

Author Biography

Thomas Magstadt earned his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies

Table of Contents

PREFACE	xi
MAPS	xviii
North America circa 1800	xviii
Westward Expansion of the United States, 1800-1853	xix
1 America's Foreign Policy: Product, Process, and Purpose	1	(34)
Foreign Policy as Product: A U.S. Approach	5	(8)
Foreign Policy as Process: Getting Organized	13	(9)
Realism and Idealism in American Foreign Policy	22	(5)
The Limits of American Power	27	(3)
Power Politics and the Pursuit of Principles after September 11	30	(3)
Conclusion	33	(2)
2 Ideals and Self Interest: The American Way	35	(25)
The Founders and Foreign Policy	35	(6)
Young America, Old World	41	(6)
Europe, Keep Out!	47	(6)
American Wars	53	(2)
From Isolationism to Hegemony	55	(2)
Conclusion	57	(3)
3 Hegemony and Insolvency: The Burdens of a Great Power	60	(25)
The Concept of Solvency	62	(1)
Latin America: Big Stick Diplomacy	63	(5)
The New Frontier: Opening Doors in Asia	68	(4)
World War I: Replacing the Old Order	72	(1)
Wilson's New World Order	73	(8)
Losing the Peace: The Tragedy of Versailles	81	(1)
Conclusion	82	(3)
4 Between Wars: Collective Security and Delusions of Peace	85	(18)
Collective Insecurity (1919-1935)	86	(9)
Back to the Future (1936-1941)	95	(4)
The Failed Search for Solvency	99	(1)
Conclusion	100	(3)
5 The Cold War: Containment and Deterrence	103	(37)
The End of Isolationism	106	(1)
The Arsenal of Democracy: An Emerging Superpower	107	(4)
Containment: Big Idea, Big Price Tag	111	(10)
Containment Goes to War: Korea	121	(1)
Containment and Deterrence	121	(7)
The Nifty Fifties: Calm before the Storm	128	(9)
Conclusion	137	(3)
6 Intervention against Communism: From Kennedy to Reagan	140	(23)
Foreign Policy on Hold (1964-1971)	144	(2)
When Democracy Is Bad for America: Chile	146	(1)
Détente and Decline (1972-1980)	147	(4)
The Limits of Idealism: The Carter Legacy	151	(2)
Bouncing Back: The Reagan Presidency (1981-1989)	153	(6)
Conclusion	159	(4)
7 Democracy and Anarchy: America in the New World Order	163	(29)
Policy without Vision (1989-1993)	165	(5)
The Gulf War (1990-1991)	170	(3)
The New Interventionism	173	(4)
Reinventing Foreign Policy (1993-1997)	177	(10)
The Neoconservative Challenge	187	(2)
Conclusion	189	(3)
8 From Intervention to Preemption: America's New Crusade	192	(28)
Russia: Neither Enemy nor Partner	192	(3)
Reinventing NATO	195	(4)
Terrorism: Mischief or Mortal Threat?	199	(3)
Will the Real George W. Bush Please Stand?	202	(2)
An Act of War: September 11, 2001	204	(7)
America's New Crusade in Historical Perspective	211	(5)
From Clinton to Bush: A Study in Contrasts	216	(1)
Conclusion	217	(3)
9 Power, Principles, and War: The Limits of Foreign Policy	220	(23)
The Meaning of September 11, 2001	221	(1)
Doctrines versus Principles	222	(7)
Empires and Blowback	229	(2)
The Deadly "Game" of War	231	(3)
War and the Economy	234	(4)
Back to the Future	238	(2)
Conclusion	240	(3)
INDEX	243	(20)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR	263