Containment: Rebuilding a Strategy against Global Terror [Hardcover]

Ian Shapiro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 29, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0691129282 | ISBN-13: 978-0691129280 | Edition: annotated edition

In this powerfully argued book, Ian Shapiro shows that the idea of containment offers the best hope for protecting Americans and their democracy into the future. His bold vision for American security in the post-September 11 world is reminiscent of George Kennan's historic "Long Telegram," in which the containment strategy that won the Cold War was first developed.

The Bush Doctrine of preemptive war and unilateral action has been marked by incompetence--missed opportunities to capture Osama bin Laden, failures of postwar planning for Iraq, and lack of an exit strategy. But Shapiro contends that the problems run deeper. He explains how the Bush Doctrine departs from the best traditions of American national-security policy and accepted international norms, and renders Americans and democratic values less safe. He debunks the belief that containment is obsolete. Terror networks might be elusive, but the enabling states that make them dangerous can be contained. Shapiro defends containment against charges of appeasement, arguing that force against a direct threat will be needed. He outlines new approaches to intelligence, finance, allies, diplomacy, and international institutions. He explains why containment is the best alternative to a misguided agenda that naively assumes democratic regime change is possible from the barrel of an American gun.

President Bush has defined the War on Terror as the decisive ideological struggle of our time. Shapiro shows what a self-defeating mistake that is. He sets out a viable alternative that offers real security to Americans, reclaims America's international stature, and promotes democracy around the world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Had President Bush adopted Shapiro's approach on Sept. 12, 2001, it is quite likely that he would have had more success in marginalizing adversaries. -- Samantha Power, New York Times Book Review

The Bush administration's post-9/11 national security strategy has come in for tremendous criticism, but opponents have had difficulty articulating a coherent alternative. Here is one. Shapiro . . . offers a brilliant sketch of a new strategic vision that draws on Cold War-era containment ideas. -- G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs

It's to be hoped that Shapiro is not done--his ideas here deserve extended discussion. And as the post-Bush world starts to take form, there will be a continued need for creative thinking and the rediscovery of intellectual resources we have unwisely abandoned. -- Aziz Huq, American Prospect

Shapiro makes a convincing case that so-called rogue states like North Korea and Iran can be deterred and contained even if they develop nuclear weapons. -- Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Chronicle of Higher Education

Americans who want more than garage logic and uninformed rhetoric should read [this] book. Bush administration officials should read [this] book. -- Roger Buoen, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Containment is both a forceful critique of current foreign policy and a prescriptive response to it. . . . Shapiro offers a series of complicated and detailed strategies to confront global terror, including greater investment in human intelligence to methodically track and stop weapons proliferation, and to his credit, he avoids oversimplification and instead offers thorough analyses of individual situations. . . . If only such a clear and thorough analysis existed before the last election. -- Joshua J. Kearney, The Harvard Crimson

The effects of the Iraq war upon the discussion of American foreign policy have come in waves. The first wave was all about competence...Now the second wave of the discussion is under way, and its subject is not competence but ideology...Ian Shapiro's book is an important document of this second wave...Shapiro argues that the only strategy that makes sense in the aftermath of Iraq is the old strategy of containment, which he believes is firmly grounded in American history and American values. The only correct retort to Bushism is Kennanism.... Containment, Shapiro contends, is our fallback, and obviously a wiser course. -- James P. Rubin, The New Republic

This book is seductive in its belief that the university as endeavour can contribute to a better world. It is written with sensitivity, with reason and with the intelligent, well rounded insights of a liberal educator of great experience. The book asserts everything that I believe in. -- Pamela Taylor, Educational Review

Shapiro's overall case is compelling. . . . [A]mong the growing number of critiques of the Bush strategy, his is the most comprehensive and, arguably, the most convincing. -- Lieutenant General William E Odom, Cambridge Review of International Affairs

Shapiro's style is more confrontational than contained but that is to be welcomed in this short work containing some pointed observations. -- Bill Durodie, International Affairs

From the Inside Flap

"This book succeeds in showing that there are sound alternatives to the dominant unilateralist approach for dealing with the national security and foreign policy challenges confronted by the United States. Bravo for Professor Shapiro!"--Ernesto Zedillo, former President of Mexico, Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization

"At a time and on an issue that cry out for fresh, critical, and constructive thinking, Ian Shapiro has performed a great service by laying out a bold yet pragmatic idea for dealing with the threats America faces in the post-September 11 world. He has adapted an old idea that worked--the containment of communist expansion during the Cold War--to the task of replacing a policy that has, to a spectacular and tragic degree, not worked: military preemption and the attempt to impose democracy in the name of waging 'the War on Terror.' His critique of both the Bush administration and many of its Democratic opponents is hard-hitting and well substantiated; his recommendations are compelling; and his presentation is concise and forceful. The result is a major contribution to the debate over the single most vexing and important political challenge facing the U.S. and the world."--Strobe Talbott, President of the Brookings Institution, former Deputy Secretary of State

"Ian Shapiro follows up his masterful analysis of the politics of taxation(Death by a Thousand Cuts) with a wonderfully clinical dissection of U.S. foreign policy. Shapiro recognizes that the policy of the present administration is not just a bad idea stumbled across by accident, but a bad idea that was carefully husbanded and nurtured for years by people who were deadly serious about power and unafraid to use it. It is time, he believes, for Democrats who are serious about making the best use of power to stop triangulating these bad ideas, and to start trying to nurture some good ideas of their own. This crystal-clear account of the merits of a policy of containment represents an excellent place for them to begin."--David Runciman, author of The Politics of Good Intentions

"This is by far the best critique of the Bush administration's national-security doctrine that I have read. Its prose is lively and engaging. It focuses on the essentials and makes a clear argument that is effectively supported by his judicious reflections on the history of the Cold War and on contemporary issues including the war on terror and the conflicts in the Middle East."--Michael W. Doyle, Columbia University

"Shapiro's new book is a rich and nuanced critique of the Bush administration's doctrine of preemption and democracy promotion and its related foreign-policy agendas. He traces the rise of the administration's preoccupation with Iraq and terrorism, and the fallout in domestic and regional terms. He manages to cut to the heart of the matter without compromising the detail. His analysis also provides the all-important historical backdrop that has often been absent in other studies."--Anoush Ehteshami, Durham University

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press; annotated edition edition (January 29, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691129282
• ISBN-13: 978-0691129280
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,760,032 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Viable Alternative, March 4, 2007

By 

Karen Schmidt (Exeter, NH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Containment: Rebuilding a Strategy against Global Terror (Hardcover)

Shapiro presents a rational, concise, and morally consistent alternative to Bush's foreign doctrine of aggression and the Democrat's barren response. Supported by illustrations of former foreign policy successes and blunders, his proposal to rekindle the Cold War strategy of containment to fit a post 9-11 environment is apt and well worth consideration. Moreover, his prose, sprinkled with wit and metaphors ("Triangulation's centrol flaw is that it is good tactics but bad strategy. In the short run it can deliver as promised, but as soon as your opponent realizes what you are doing, politics becomes about shifting the goalposts."), turns what could be a dry subject into an engaging read.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Where is the second half of the book?..., January 19, 2008

By 

Michael Magoon "HistoryBuff" (Seattle) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Containment: Rebuilding a Strategy against Global Terror (Hardcover)

I was very disappointed by this book. When I saw the cover, I thought that this would lay out an reasonable alternative to our present foreign policy based upon the containment policies of the Cold War. I became even more excited when the introduction promised just that. When I was finished with the book, though, I felt like I had read Part 1, and someone had torn our Part 2 from the end of the book. A huge let down.
Shapiro rightly blames Democrats for not coming up with a well-thought-out foreign policy alternative to the Bush administration. He says that "you cannot fight something with nothing." But unfortunately Shapiro's "something" consists of little more than a bulleted list on the first page of the final chapter.
In fairness to Shapiro, he does offer a very well reasoned argument for why the Bush administration's foreign policy is misguided on a very fundamental level. And he does often show how the general theory of containment would oppose these policies, but he never shows what concrete Containment-based policies he would recommend.
Most maddingly, he never even defines what we are supposed to be containing. There is obviously no clear country (like the USSR) to contain. He say that we are not fighting against Terrorism, because terrorism will always exist and many terrorist groups are not attacking the USA. True, but he also criticizes those who want to fight against radical Islamists, saying they are provoking a "war of civilizations" against Islam. So who exactly are we containing?
Shapiro criticizes our cooperation with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan because they are authoritarian, even though our Cold War containment policies worked with many authoritarian regimes. It is difficult for me to believe that we can have any kind of containment policy in the Middle East without at least some cooperation with authoritarian regimes. So how do we decide who is our friend and who is our enemy? Shapiro offers little.
Some day someone will develop a true Containment policy against the Global Jihadist Insurgency based upon the successful policies of the Cold War but updated to a different region, different time and different enemy. That would be an interesting book! Unfortunately, Shapiro decided not to write that book.

6 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars very disappointing, July 31, 2007

By 

Scott Tessier (denver, co) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Containment: Rebuilding a Strategy against Global Terror (Hardcover)

I was very disappointed with this book and would have given it one star were i not such a big fan of the containment doctrine. I wanted to give this book 5 starts, but unfortunately it falls very short. The shame here is that Shapiro has a fantastic thesis; applying the doctrine of containment to fight terrorism is a wonderful idea. Unfortunately, he does a terrible job of developing his thesis. And terrible is being complementary. This book is so poorly focused it is laughable. And its only 131 pages! My graduate thesis was longer. It is hard to be so poorly focused in such a short book. He probably really only has about fifty pages of real content in this book. Shapiro repeatedly drifts into tangents on Iraq, and while I agree Iraq is an unfortunate situation, he fails to make this really relevant and it makes the book smack of politicization and detracts from the few, dispersed good points he makes. The book is a quintessential definition of what can be wrong with academia. He develops a thesis, applies absolutely no sort of structured analysis to it whatsoever, and fails to explain how to actually go about implementing this policy. He never explains how he would actually go about implementing this. If he were to walk into to the NSC with this material he would get laughed out of the room because he makes no effort to bridge theory and practice. His lack of structured analysis is really frightening for someone who teaches at Yale. He makes some really dubious analytic leaps, has tremendous logic gaps throughout the book, and supports his theories with rants and claims, not evidence. In summary, great concept, poorly executed.