Taming American Power: The Global Response to U.S. Primacy

by Stephen M. Walt

Finalist for the 2006 Gelber Prize: "A brilliant contribution to the American foreign policy debate."—Anatol Lieven, New York Times Book Review

At a time when America's dominance abroad was being tested like never before, Taming American Power provided for the first time a "rigorous critique of current U.S. strategy" (Washington Post Book World) from the vantage point of its fiercest opponents. Stephen M. Walt examines America's place as the world's singular superpower and the strategies that rival states have devised to counter it. Hailed as a "landmark book" by Foreign Affairs, Taming American Power makes the case that this ever-increasing tide of opposition not only could threaten America's ability to achieve its foreign policy goals today but also may undermine its dominant position in years to come.

Genres: Politics, International Relations, Nonfiction, Political Science, American History, International Affairs, 21st Century

321 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a realist case for many of the tenets of Democratic foreign policy. The book is clearly meant to convince Republican mainstreamers that they can call Bush's foreign policy bad and still be patriotic Americans out to improve America's national power. In order to do this, Walt cleverly makes his case using the discourse and buzzwords of the Republican party and takes up points that no one outside of that universe would even take seriously in discussion- like the idea that other countries are "just jealous" of the US anyway, or "they hate us for who we are"- as well as using only very well-known, huge headline making events to make his case, simplistic (and at times rather condescending) metaphors, and straightforward language that seem calculated to appeal to readers who don't want to be "talked down to." It works very well. He shows in particular how the US support of Israel has damaged our standing in the Middle East (a point he took up to huge uproar with a further book on the Israel lobby a year or two later), how US bases abroad, a muscular/arrogant posture of unilateralism and the basic belief by many Americans that what they are doing is good is read in the rest of the world. Indeed, he spends a great deal of time just pointing out the fact that other countries have feelings too, and what would you expect them to do in the face of all this power? As Timothy Garton Ash remarks: "It would be dangerous for an archangel to have this much power." All in all, he makes a pretty good (if limited) overall case in self-interested terms for why the US shouldn't be a huge asshole to the rest of the world.

The book will not please anyone who sees the world outside of the outdated system of nation-states (he does not account for transnational actors except lobbying groups and terrorism), or those looking for an explanation that goes outside issues of security in general.

Still, quite useful politically. Give this to your Republican friends who for some reason still think Bush II's foreign policy choices were in any way a good idea.

[Moataz · Rating 3 out of 5]

عندما تقف دولة ما على قمة القوة وحدها، فليس من سبيل آخر إلا السقوط .. دراسة بحثية ناضجة من وحدة الدراسات المستقبلية لمكتبة الأسكندرية حول مستقبل القوة الأمريكية ، وهي عبارة عن مقاليين لكاتبيين أمريكيين عن مستقبل القوة الأمريكية، وكلى الرأيين على النقيد، أحدها مقال "نهاية العصر الأمريكي" لعالم السياسة "ستيفن والت" أستاذ السياسة الدولية بمركز جون كينيدي بجامعة هارفارد، و "والت" يعد من مدرسة السياسة الواقعية في العلاقات الدولية الأمريكية، وصاحب كتاب "ترويض القوى العظمى".
أما المقال الثاني "ضد خرافة الإنحطاط الأمريكي" للمؤرخ الأمريكي الشهير "روبرت كاجان" والخبير بمعهد "بروكينجز" الذي ينتمي لليمين الأمريكي، وفي مقاله ينتقد أصحاب الرأي الأول الذي يزع نهاية الهيمنة الأمريكية.
كان أهم ما جاء في الدراسة حديثها الشيق عن تاريخ الصعود الدولي لأمريكا منذ إعلان مبدأ "مونرو"، وهو بني على أساس التصريح الذي أصدره الرئيس "جيمس مونرو" بأن دول الأمريكيتين دول مستقلة لا تخضع لأي هيمنة، وأن الإعتداء عليها يعد إعتداء على مصالح أمريكا وهذا أمر سوف تقف له أمريكا بكل حزم، وكان التصريح هو إعتراض على محاولة بريطانية التدخل في شؤون دول الأمريكيتين، ثم شرعت أمريكا في تنفيذ هذه السياسة لدرجة التدخل العسكري وضم جزء من المكسيك، ثم مضت الدراسة في شرح صعود أمريكا على الصعيد الدولي بعد الحرب العالمية الثانية حينما شكلت أمريكا شكل العلاقات الدولية التي أرستها المؤسسات التي أقامتها (صندوق النقد الدولي _ البنك الدولي _ الأمم المتحدة _ الإتفاقية العامة للتعريفات والتجارة "جات")، والوصول بهذه الإتفاقيات إلى إجماع واشنطن، ويشرح أيضاً ما أدت إليه الحرب الباردة بين أمريكا والإتحاد السوفييتي، والصعو الإقتصادي للنمور الأسياوية والصين وتوركيا والبرازيل وتبعات هذا على الوقف الدولي لأمريكا، ومرت الدراسة على أحداث الشرق الوسط (الثورة الإيرانية_ وحرب أكتوبر_ وغيرها من الأحداث) .. في المجمل تعد دراسة جيدة في مستقبل القوة المهيمنة أمريكا فالتاريخ هو حكاية الجهود الفاشلة للبقاء وهو ما أرسته الدراسة.

[Sam Snideman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid book. If you've read anything by Walt (or, really, any realist), you've heard a lot of this before. The difference here is that Walt couches his critique of American foreign policy in the contemporary (when he was writing) context of the George W. Bush administration, though one could argue that many of his criticisms are still valid under the Obama administration. The book basically tells two stories: how can states who seek to "tame American power" accomplish this task (strategies of resistance and strategies of accommodation) and how can the United States retain its status as global hegemon (returning to its role as a balancer, essentially).

I'd recommend the book to just about anyone; Walt's a very good writer, and the subject is imminently important (particularly now that challenges to US power come not just from security concerns, but also from our own economic behavior).

[Zach Pennington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since it’s a bit dated it’s interesting to see how the world has changed and how the concepts are still very relevant. We could even begin to see book’s potential application to China’s power and influence.

[Stan Lanier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written 20 years ago, the damage it predicted has come to pass, sadly. It is clarifying if one is interested in questions of US foreign policy.

[Elliott Bignell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally coming to read this book after an outrageously long time, it is very striking that it describes a world in which one can no longer really believe. A financial crisis and two interminable wars later and China is within a few years of overtaking the USA in terms of GDP. The USA had its moment in the Sun and squandered it. But two elections after the end of the reign of the Chimp in Chief and the USA is also no longer the clod-hopping bull in the china shop that we knew in the days of the Rape of Iraq. Obama is just returned to office at the time of writing, states have just voted to terminate the war on drugs, the USA is beaten in Afghanistan and the American public want something done about global warming. The USA looks like a responsible nation again.

So this book got almost everything wrong, from one perspective. The USA has not acquired a Thousand Year Reich as the neoconservative "intellectuals" dreamed, or even a Several Decades Reich, but then, neither is it such a cause for resentment among the rest of us.

On the other hand, the book has a scholarly tone and an even thoroughness in its approach such that it still has something to say so long as America remains on or near the top, and even for the next hegemon. No polemic, it simply looks at why power leads to resistance, how that resistance can take form and how it can be worked around. It yields a blueprint for a worthy leader among nations and that blueprint is really not bad. It says, in effect, that to be the hegemon one must behave like a mature nation and earn hegemony, for a bully can always be thwarted. This is not a bad lesson for whomever it comes to be of interest in the future.

Time passed the author by and brought a world a little different to his expectations. But then, we all had some surprises. For being mainly wrong with good intentions and careful methods, therefore, a neutral rating.

[Jeanne]

This book is interesting. I am currently reading it for a politics. I have to write a book review on it. However as I am reading it I have found this book is targeted at Americans. I think Walt is very abvious in this way. While he addresses the negative view the world has on American his writing makes me think he is still unaware of the true view the world has on America. He appears to be caught up in American ideologies and slightly blinded by what American is and what Americans think it is. This could be because I am not American and how the reader interprets the book might be based on where they come from. However as a politics student I find this to be quite disappointing because the issue should draw evenly from both sides (no matter what the final conlcusion)

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good primer on international politics in a unipolar world. Walt does an excellent job explicitly and neutrally describing why other nations will have concerns of differing levels over the primacy of the U.S. On the international scene, and describing the various options nations in unequal power relationships have for dealing with great powers like the U.S, especially in a world without balancing powers. His end prescription for dealing with a positions of primacy is very rational. It is very pragmatic, and not what I would prefer as an idealist. But it is far better than the standard approach we see from administrations of all stripes at this time.

[Jacob Dougherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stephen Walt, a dignified international relations scholar, has with this book written a very clear outline of not only his views on the current U.S. preponderence of world power, but how U.S. foreign policy can potentially be changed for the better. Walt's solution is "offshore balancing"-- a modern reincarnation of the traditional realist idea of the "balance of power". Many may not agree with Walt's neo-realist theorizing, but it is very hard to argue with his clear-headed arguments about why America is hated in the world, and how we can do better.

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh Steven Walt, how do you really feel?

I loved this book simply because Walt eruditely puts the smack-down on the Bush II Administration in ways I could only dream of doing. In series of easy to follow, three point arguments. Doesn't pull punches, won't hesitate to compare you to your daddy.

[Greg D'Avis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Walt's one of the most reasonable minds out there right now, and this is very good -- while there's nothing breathtaking in what he says, he presents it very clearly and logically. A good book to hand out to anyone curious about America's place in the world.

[Brad Grey · Rating 2 out of 5]

A look back in time at the Bush administration's foreign policy. Highly generalized, good as an International Relations 101. Also bizarrely anti-Semitic at times. It just sorta pops out of nowhere. Like, here's some information. Then, randomly, "and its because of the JEWS AAUUGGHHH."

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The applied relevance made this presentation of political theory more interesting (repetitive if you’ve read Walt before but perfect for the intro to international politics class). Well compiled.

[Will Craighead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great

[Brenden]

Taming American Power: The Global Response to U.S. Primacy by Stephen M. Walt (2005)