Smart Power: Toward a Prudent Foreign Policy for America

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Cato Institute, 2008 M06 12 - 252 páginas

The United States confronts a host of foreign policy problems in the 21st century, yet the Republic’s security strategy is increasingly muddled and counterproductive. The litany of misplaced priorities and policy failures grows ever larger. Disagreements over Iraq policy as well as other matters have soured Washington’s relations with its long-time European allies. NATO, the centerpiece of Washington’s transatlantic policy for nearly six decades, is foundering in Afghanistan and displays a growing lack of cohesion and relevance. Tensions between the United States and Russia are on the rise as authoritarianism has reemerged in that country and Moscow resists Washington’s assertive policies, especially the ongoing expansion of NATO into traditional Russian spheres of influence and the repeated displays of contempt for Russian interests in the Balkans and other regions.

American policymakers grapple with the prospect of new and volatile nuclear powers, most notably North Korea and Iran. It remains to be seen whether Washington’s strategy of using multilateral negotiations involving North Korea’s neighbors to induce Pyongyang to end its quest for nuclear weapons will succeed. The more hardline strategy of imposing economic sanctions and considering the use of military force is clearly not working with regard to Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Other problems, such as the Taiwan issue, are just clouds on the horizon at present, but they have the potential to cause serious trouble in the coming years. The Taiwan problem highlights the danger inherent in Washington’s habit of making ill-advised security commitments to small, vulnerable client states that are not crucial to America’s own security and well being. In the case of Taiwan, such an obligation could lead to armed confrontation between the United States and China.

Ted Galen Carpenter examines these and other foreign policy challenges that America confronts in the 21st century and diagnoses what is wrong with Washington’s current approach. Throughout these essays, he outlines an alternative strategy that would protect America’s security while avoiding unnecessary and unrewarding military adventures.

 

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Contenido

Introduction Americas Strategic Incoherence
1
1 Trying to Thwart the Drive to War agaisnt Iraq
9
2 Assessing the Iraq Debacle
23
Afghanistan
65
4 The War on Terror
81
5 Attempting to Head Off War against Iran
97
6 Prospects for Peace and Democracy in the Middle East
119
7 New Approaches for the Troubled Korean Peninsula
133
9 A Delicate Relationship with China
183
10 NATO the Balkans and Relations with Russia
199
11 The Disastrous War on Drugs
217
12 The Connection between Foreign Policy and Domestic Liberty
237
Index
249
About the Author
259
Cato Institute
261
Derechos de autor

8 The Dangerous Taiwan Issue
155

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Ted Galen Carpenter is senior fellow for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute. He is the author of 8 books and the editor of 10 books on international affairs, including Smart Power: Toward a Prudent Foreign Policy for America. Carpent

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