American Force: Dangers, Delusions, and Dilemmas in National Security

A Council on Foreign Relations Book

by Richard K. Betts

While American national security policy has grown more interventionist since the Cold War, Washington has also hoped to shape the world on the cheap. Misled by the stunning success against Iraq in 1991, administrations of both parties have pursued ambitious aims with limited force, committing the country's military frequently yet often hesitantly, with inconsistent justification. These ventures have produced strategic confusion, unplanned entanglements, and indecisive results. This collection of essays by Richard K. Betts, a leading international politics scholar, investigates the use of American force since the end of the Cold War, suggesting guidelines for making it more selective and successful.

Betts brings his extensive knowledge of twentieth century American diplomatic and military history to bear on the full range of theory and practice in national security, surveying the Cold War roots of recent initiatives and arguing that U.S. policy has always been more unilateral than liberal theorists claim. He exposes mistakes made by humanitarian interventions and peace operations; reviews the issues raised by terrorism and the use of modern nuclear, biological, and cyber weapons; evaluates the case for preventive war, which almost always proves wrong; weighs the lessons learned from campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam; assesses the rise of China and the resurgence of Russia; quells concerns about civil-military relations; exposes anomalies within recent defense budgets; and confronts the practical barriers to effective strategy. Betts ultimately argues for greater caution and restraint, while encouraging more decisive action when force is required, and he recommends a more dispassionate assessment of national security interests, even in the face of global instability and unfamiliar threats.

Genres: Politics, International Relations

367 pages, Hardcover

First published December 6, 2011

Reviews

[The American Conservative]

'The book is ... a lucid and insightful guide to the use of armed force as an instrument of U.S. power. Central to Betts’s approach is a clear-headed view of what constitutes U.S. national security—which should not be equated with international security—and of the importance of concentrating on genuinely vital interests as distinct from all the nice-to-have objectives that the United States seems to have picked up along the way to unipolarity.'

Read the full review, "Fighting the Last (Cold) War," on our website:
http://www.theamericanconservative.co...

[Marion Kipiani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Richard Betts has an impressive level of knowledge and insight into US national security policy, and he aptly diagnoses it's post-Cold War shortcomings. However, his own policy prescriptions are not as convincing as his diagnosis. It is often hard to follow the author's train of thought through the individual chapters, but the chapter on the difficulties of strategy is superb and a must-read.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 5 out of 5]

---

Betts was born and raised in Eaton, Pennsylvania graduating from Newton High School in 1965. He went on to attend and graduate from Harvard University earning a bachelor's, master's, and eventually doctorate in government in 1965, 1971 and 1975 respectively.

His dissertation, under the direction of Samuel P. Huntington was on the role of military advice in decisions to resort to force, which later became his first book, Soldiers, Statesmen, and Cold War Crises.

His dissertation was awarded the Sumner Prize, for best dissertation in international relations. While a student at Harvard, Betts served as a teaching fellow from 1971 to 1975 and a lecturer for the 1975–1976 academic year. He served as a professional staff member on the Church Committee.

In 1976 Betts joined the Brookings Institution where he served as a research associate and later in 1981 a senior fellow until 1990. While at Brookings, Betts was a professional lecture at Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Harvard, and Columbia University.

Additionally, he was a staff member on the National Security Council in 1977 and on the foreign policy staff of Walter Mondale presidential campaign in 1984.

In 1990, Betts joined the faculty at Columbia University. There, he led the international security policy program at the School of International and Public Affairs, became the director of the Institute of War and Peace Studies.

A staple of the faculty, Betts taught the introductory course war, peace, and strategy for over 25 years, a requirement for all international relations students at the university.

Betts has been an occasional consultant to the National Intelligence Council and Central Intelligence Agency.

[kiku · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bordering on navel gazing.....

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent insights into all sorts of national security problems. I disagree with some of his takes, but they’re well-argued. Mile wide inch deep.