Customer Reviews

The Reluctant Sheriff The United States after the Cold War

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No matter that Richard N. Haass is the Director of Foreign Policy Studies, a think tank with a moderate leftist reputation. He may cloak his words in liberal rhetoric, but the ideas he presents belong firmly to the Realist camp. For instance, he argues that the United States, while remaining a member of the UN and using it for our purposes, should not allow the UN to dominate us. Ideas originating in the Realist camp abound in this book.

The basic premise of this book, wonderfully supported, is that the United States should, as the title implies, conduct foreign policy "by posse". Whenever possible, the United States should engage our allies (or others when appropriate) in pursuing our objectives, but we should not allow the need for agreement to prevent us from pursuing those objectives important to us. A prime example would be the Persian Gulf War: President Bush devoted an extraordinary amount of time and effort into building the international coalition which defeated Iraq, but he also stated that if need be, the United States would stand alone.

Another important idea Haass writes about is that of the "deregulated" world. With the end of the Cold War, many of the restraints imposed by the superpowers have been removed as well. We can expect to see all of the smaller conflicts suppressed during the Cold War to come bubbling back to the surface. This increase in the sheer number of conflicts is going to pose problems for the United States, particularly if they are handled in a haphazard or irrational way. Here his Realist side peeks out from under the sheepskin again: he tells us that the United States must decide whether to intervene guided not by moral concerns or the dictates of the UN, but based on a rational evaluation of whether it would serve American interests.

This is an excellent book covering the general world state that American policymakers face today. I almost gave this book four stars out of spite: I didn't want it to end.