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Shields of the Republic: The Triumph and Peril of America’s Alliances Hardcover – June 9, 2020

by Mira Rapp-Hooper (Author)

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Is America’s alliance system so quietly effective that politicians and voters fail to appreciate its importance in delivering the security they take for granted?

For the first century and a half of its existence, the United States had just one alliance―a valuable but highly controversial military arrangement with France. Largely out of deference to George Washington’s warnings against the dangers of “entangling alliances,” subsequent American presidents did not consider entering another alliance for 150 years. Then everything suddenly changed. Between 1948 and 1955, US leaders extended defensive security guarantees to twenty-three countries in Europe and Asia. Seventy years later, the United States had allied with thirty-seven.

In Shields of the Republic, Mira Rapp-Hooper stresses the remarkable success of these alliances. The first protected the young country during its revolutionary birth and early vulnerability. During the Cold War, a grand strategy focused on allied defense and deterrence maintained the balance of power. The world wasn’t always peaceful, but the United States upheld its national security even as the country was newly exposed to ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons that nullified its geographic and technological advantages. Remarkably, it did this at reasonable material and political cost.

Today the alliance system is threatened from without and within. China and Russia seek to break America’s alliances through conflict and nonmilitary erosion. Meanwhile US politicians and voters are increasingly skeptical of alliances’ costs and benefits and assert that we are safer without them. But what if the alliance system is a victim of its own success? Rapp-Hooper argues that we take our safety for granted, having forgotten what alliances do to protect us. The alliance system may be past due for a post–Cold War overhaul, but it remains critical to national security.

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“Rapp-Hooper musters rock-solid evidence to demonstrate what policymakers have long believed: that America’s alliances are a remarkably effective foreign policy tool. Just as importantly, she gives an unambiguous account of why this system must be preserved and lays out a compelling plan for how to do so.”―Stephen Hadley, Principal at RiceHadleyGates and former national security advisor

“For seventy years, alliances have been central to American foreign policy. Where did they come from and where are they going? Mira Rapp-Hooper gives smart answers to both the historical and future questions about our alliances.”―Joseph S. Nye, Jr., author of Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump

“Shields of the Republic is a must-read―an invaluable resource for exploring timely and thorny questions about the role of alliances in American foreign policy.”―Elizabeth N. Saunders, author of Leaders at War: How Presidents Shape Military Interventions

About the Author

Mira Rapp-Hooper is Schwarzman Senior Fellow for Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and Senior Fellow at the China Center at Yale Law School.

Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Harvard University Press (June 9, 2020)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0674982959
ISBN-13: 978-0674982956
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Customer Reviews: Be the first to review this item
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #383,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #365 in International Diplomacy (Books)
- #19016 in United States History (Books)

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Shields of the Republic: The Triumph and Peril of America’s Alliances Hardcover – June 9, 2020

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