Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy

by Leslie H. Gelb

“Fluent, well-timed, provocative. . . . Filled with gritty, shrewd, specific advice on foreign policy ends and means. . . . Gelb’s plea for greater strategic thinking is absolutely right and necessary.” — The New York Times Book Review “Few Americans know the inner world of American foreign policy—its feuds, follies, and fashions—as well as Leslie H. Gelb. . . . Power Rules builds on that lifetime of experience with power and is a witty and acerbic primer.” — The New York Times Power Rules is the provocative account of how to think about and use America’s power in the world, from Pulitzer Prize winner Leslie H. Gelb, one of the nation’s leading foreign policy minds and practitioners.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Leslie Howard Gelb was a correspondent and columnist for The New York Times and later a senior Defense and State Department official.

Reviews

[Paul R · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read most of this book in about 45 min and I read it for the primary intent of wanting to get into the head of a U.S. planner to help me understand how they see the world. The problem with Gelb's view on the world is that it is extremely arrogant and self serving. Everything is always from the point of view of promoting and protecting U.S. interests. The chapter on advising policy makers on forming alliances with international partners was particularly instructive. I'm paraphrasing but it went something like this: "tell countries that while we would like them to join us, we can go it alone anyway..." which in between the lines fundamentally means something like: "We don't care what you say or what you do, look at how powerful we are. We'll do what we want anyway weather you're with us or not". The part where Gelb describes his immigrant parents breaking down in tears in his Pentagon office with the U.S. flag draped on his wall was particularly nauseating. This book did not give me any optimism that the U.S. will do the right thing by the rest of the world when it counts. My rating: half a star.

[Kressel Housman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's another one for the "unfinished" category, or perhaps it fits better under a "Who am I kidding?" category. I heard the author, an expert in global politics who has served under a few presidents and writes for The New York Times, on a radio interview, and he spoke so well, particularly about support of Israel, that I felt I just had to read his book. He wrote it as a sort of open letter to President Obama, advising him on all kinds of foreign policy issues and even some domestic ones.

Mostly, the book is about the nature of power, which he defines not as military prowess but the ability to pressure others to do things they don't want to. Military prowess is part of power, but certainly not all of it, and when military prowess is misused, it actually results in a loss of power. (He demonstrates in great detail how George Bush, Jr. did just that.) The United States remains the single greatest world power today, but it is certainly not all-powerful. As insurgencies and terrorists have proven, there are plenty of forces within the world who may be weaker than the U.S. but who will not kowtow to any demands and will kill to get their way. On the positive side, global interdependence has never been stronger, so countries really do need to work together so that the entire world can mutually benefit.

I got about 100 pages into the book, and while it's by no means a light read, I found it more readable than many other history books I've attempted, particularly because it's all recent history. I'd really like to know "how common sense can rescue foreign policy," but I'm not going to finish the book to find out, at least not now. All this talk about power got me thinking about the where I exert power in my own life - with my kids. So it seems that a better use of my time would be to read self-help and parenting books, with the occasional venture out into the bigger world just to keep myself informed and educated. So like I said, along with John Kenneth Galbraith's history of money, this one goes into the "Who am I kidding?" category.

[Eric_W]

Quote from Carlos Lozada review:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...

"Gelb thinks that American leaders have misunderstood American power, which is really about "psychological and political pressure," not just military force. He channels Machiavelli and offers President Obama -- our "elected prince" -- rules for wielding power, as well as tips on Pakistan and Afghanistan. Politicians must avoid the three demons of foreign policy: ideology, domestic politics and the arrogance of power. Finally, the world is not flat; global power is a pyramid, with the United States atop other countries clustered in order of decreasing influence. The way to deploy power is to build coalitions with key second-tier nations, because these days, Washington can still lead the world, but it can't run the place alone. This underpins Gelb's grand new principle, compulsory in every such book: Mutual Indispensability."

[Yeti_2_read · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gelb writes a history of US foreign policy as a continuing and evolving debate between Jefferson idealism and Hamilton realism. He defines power as the ability to get others to do what they don’t want to do through pressure and coercion. (I don’t know how pressure differs from coercion however)

He describes the international system as a pyramid, both uni and multipolar. The US remains the top power (writing in 2009), but to retain this position must build mutual indispensability with the 8 tier two countries to take universal problems. Ultimately, Gelb calls for a “common sense” grand strategy…and to tamp down our extremist tendencies.

Overall I found it insightful and effective at distilling these from complex history. Further, the failure of US to lead world response to COVID and the strategic failure of Russia’s Ukraine drive home some of the key lessons in Gelb’s work.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 2009 as an open letter to president's and policy-makers/decision-makers, it has some good points to make about American power, foreign policy, etc. Some of Leslie Gelb's critiques of the American political system, partisan politics and an informing media are exactly on point, while the 2011 Arab Spring descent into chaos for Libya, Syria, Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the rise of ISIS negate some of the hopefulness of his more moderate proposals.

[Kia H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good, does a good job of summing up what foreign policy is all about. Rips of both Democrats and Republicans pretty equally but there are some good lessons to take. He really admires the foreign policy strategy of the Truman Administration.

[Hunter Marston · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read for policy makers and foreign policy thinkers alike. Valuable criticism of past Presidents' foreign policy blunders and important lessons for future leaders' foreign policy decision making and global values.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Independent un-biased account of the history of American foreign and suggestions on how it can be improved.
Great read!

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing spectacular, just another good read on foreign policy during the late 20th century.

[JM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Readable and makes a good case for how to repair America's standing in the world.