Present Dangers: Crisis and Opportunity in American Foreign and Defense Policy (Paperback)

~ Robert Kagan (Author) "A little over twenty years ago, a group of concerned Americans formed the Committee on the Present Danger..." (more)
Key Phrases: conservative internationalism, conservative internationalists, clerical regime, United States, North Korea, Soviet Union (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Two leading advocates of "conservative internationalism" in foreign policy assemble a like-minded group of deep thinkers in Present Dangers. According to the editors--Robert Kagan of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and William Kristol of The Weekly Standard--America's most significant threats come from within, rather than without. They worry that "the United States, the world's dominant power on whom the maintenance of international peace and the support of liberal democratic principles depends, will shrink its responsibilities and--in a fit of absentmindedness, or parsimony, or indifference--allow the international order that it created and sustains to collapse." As might be expected, the Clinton administration comes in for a thrashing on these pages. Ross H. Munro, an expert on China, writes: "However history judges [President] Clinton, the assessment of how his administration dealt with a rising China is certain to be harsh." In a chapter on Russia, Peter W. Rodman slams the Clintonites for "sentimentality," an "absurd doctrinal fetish" with arms control, and "an unwillingness to assert major American strategic interests and impose a penalty for harm done to them, lest the poor Russians feel hurt." There are other essays, too: Richard N. Perle on Iraq, Elliott Abrams on the Middle East, and William J. Bennett on the importance of morality and character in foreign policy. Clear thinking and straightforward writing mark each chapter.

As a whole, Present Dangers is an excellent primer on how a Republican foreign policy might look in the early years of the 21st century. But to be sure, a Republican foreign policy would not inevitably look this way; in one of the book's best sections, James W. Caesar examines the realist and isolationist schools of conservative thought and contrasts them with the view expressed throughout Present Dangers. Yet this is a strong and convincing call for "a strong commitment to vigorous American global leadership, to American power, and to the advancement of American democratic and free-market principles abroad." --John J. Miller --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

This original collection offers hope to those who believe that the cause of world peace requires a new American foreign policy and repairing our depleted military. The twelve contributors to this book show why America must take another look at our possible adversaries and real strategic partners. Present Dangers offers practical strategies for policymakers eager to disarm adversaries like North Korea and Iraq and head off the terrorist threat. Intellectuals, historians and policy-makers such as James Ceasar, Ross Munro, Peter Rodman, Richard Perle, Rueel Marc Gerecht, Nicholas Eberstadt, Jeffrey Gedmin, Aaron Friedberg, Elliott Abrams, Frederick Kagan, Willliam Schneider, William Bennett, Paul Wolfowitz, and Donald Kagan all challenge America to make sure that foreign affairs, a sleeping issue for the last eight years, gets a wake-up call in election year 2000.Table of contents, notes, bibliographic essay.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 392 pages
• Publisher: Encounter Books (November 25, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893554163
• ISBN-13: 978-1893554160
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #258,227 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely a must-read: know your enemy!, February 13, 2003

By A Customer

This is undoubtedly one of the most important books on US foreign policy published in recent years and should be read by anyone who cares about the future of the United States and the rest of the world. This is the manifesto of "conservative internationalism" whose proponents, including many of the books authors, now infest the Bush administration and are his loudest ventriloquists. Here, then, is the current administration's strategic vision.

The basic argument is that the US needs to exercise world domination, here spun as "benevolent global hegemony" and that there are a number of external obstacles which stand in the way and must be dealt with. These are Iraq, Iran, North Korea, China, the Middle East peace process and an independent Europe. In its clear and reasoned enunciation of strategy and future plans, it both rivals and surpasses the later chapters of Mein Kampf. Here is the game plan which must be read to understand where these people intend to take the world next.

If we ignore the desirability of this mission, its feasibility (the cost in money, lives and freedom) certainly merits discussion, but here the book is thin, relying on fairy story assumptions (budget surpluses!!!) and wishful thinking.

The one distasteful aspect of the book is the attempt to wrap the entire endeavour in the cloak of "American morality", understood as protecting citizen's liberties. This is breathtaking stuff from accomplices in the most extensive attempt to incinerate the Constitution in recent history.

Stripped of its ideological air cover and romantic fantasies, this is still an important, timely and lively document since this is the future course of foreign policy which the Bush administration plans to pursue.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must-read for people intersted in national security policy, October 18, 2002

By	"alanfjr" (Pittsburgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Present Dangers: Crisis and Opportunity in American Foreign and Defense Policy (Hardcover)

Whether you agree with the American foreign and defense policy of the Bush administration or not, this book is essential reading for those interested in the topic. It's a series of essays on different foreign and defense policy issues written by people who are highly influential in the Bush administration, including Richard Perle, Elliot Abrams and Paul Wolfowitz.

The central thesis seems to be that the US is (or maybe WAS immediately after the Cold War) at an unprecedented position of influence and power over the world, and should use it to secure the safety of the whole world before those who wish to threaten the free world acquire the means to do so. The book was written at the end of the Clinton administration, but many parts of the book are extremely prophetic including the need to confront the members of the "Axis of Evil" about their efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction and the palestinian uprising against the stalled peace process which had not yet begun when the book was written. Like I said, even if you're not in agreement with Bush administration policy, you'll learn what some of the influential minds are thinking (and why their right!).

17 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blueprint for action, October 18, 2000

By	Assemblyman Chuck DeVore "Chuck DeVore" (Irvine, CA United States) - See all my reviews

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"Present Dangers" is a remarkably clear collection of recommendations. In it, the authors (many of whom will no doubt occupy high positions in a Bush Administration) offer prescriptions to correct years of misguided foreign policy initiatives as well as to forge solutions for our forgotten military.

"Present Dangers" is a self-contained package. Robert Kagan and William Kristol didn't only select essayists that tell the reader what is wrong with today's policies, they, without exception, offer credible solutions as well.

This book will generate controversy in the same way President Ronald Reagan's foreign and military policies generated alarm among the status quo seeking elite who view themselves to be the sole legitimate practitioners of the art of diplomacy.

"Present Dangers" shows how America can seize the initiative on the world scene -- to shape the world to be a safer, freer place, more conducive to American interests and values.

After eight years of drift and confusion, this book is a welcome call to sensible action.