The Peace of Illusions

by Layne, Christopher

• ISBN13: 9780801437137
• ISBN10: 080143713X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-03-24
• Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr

Summary

"The Peace of Illusions intervenes in the ongoing debate about American grand strategy and the costs and benefits of "American empire." Christopher Layne urges the desirability of a strategy he calls "offshore balancing": rather than wield power to dominate other states, the U.S. government should engage in diplomacy to balance large states against one another. The United States should intervene, Layne asserts, only when another state threatens, regionally or locally, to destroy the established balance." "Drawing on extensive archival research, Layne traces the form and aims of U.S. foreign policy since 1940, examining alternatives foregone and identifying the strategic aims of different administrations. His offshore-balancing notion, if put into practice with the goal of extending the "American Century," would be a sea change in current strategy. Layne has much to say about present-day governmental decision making, which he examines from the perspectives of both international relations theory and American diplomatic history."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

Christopher Layne is Associate Professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A & M University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(14)
Theory, History, and U.S. Grand Strategy	15	(24)
World War II and the Foundations of American Global Hegemony	39	(12)
U.S. Grand Strategy and the Soviet Union, 1945--1953	51	(20)
The Open Door and American Hegemony in Western Europe	71	(23)
The Containment of Europe: American Hegemony and European Responses	94	(24)
Liberal Ideology and U.S. Grand Strategy	118	(16)
The End of the Unipolar Era	134	(25)
The Strategy of Offshore Balancing	159	(34)
Conclusion	193	(14)
Notes	207	(76)
Index	283