Foreign Policy Begins at Home
The Case for Putting America's House in Order
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- 10,99 €
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- 10,99 €
Description de l’éditeur
"A concise, comprehensive guide to America's critical policy choices at home and overseas . . . without a partisan agenda, but with a passion for solutions designed to restore our country's strength and enable us to lead." -- Madeleine K. Albright
A rising China, climate change, terrorism, a nuclear Iran, a turbulent Middle East, and a reckless North Korea all present serious challenges to America's national security. But it depends even more on the United States addressing its burgeoning deficit and debt, crumbling infrastructure, second class schools, and outdated immigration system. While there is currently no great rival power threatening America directly, how long this strategic respite lasts, according to Council on Foreign Relations President Richard N. Haass, will depend largely on whether the United States puts its own house in order.
Haass lays out a compelling vision for restoring America's power, influence, and ability to lead the world and advocates for a new foreign policy of Restoration that would require the US to limit its involvement in both wars of choice, and humanitarian interventions.
Offering essential insight into our world of continual unrest, this new edition addresses the major foreign and domestic debates since hardcover publication, including US intervention in Syria, the balance between individual privacy and collective security, and the continuing impact of the sequester.
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Haass, Council on Foreign Relations President, has a simple message for America's policymakers: we have seen the enemy and it is us. Or, to quote directly: "The biggest threat to America's security and prosperity comes not from abroad but from within." Haass devotes the first half of this short book de-scribing how, in post-Cold War years, the world changed but the U.S. "position relative to others was unavoidably diminishing." To continue to act as if the status quo works is foolish, he concludes. He notes real, emerging external threats, but the key message is thus: the U.S., "while in a unique position to do some valuable things in the world, cannot do everything." Haass methodically lays out possible actions, from "humanitarianism" to "restoration", and corresponding arguments for each alternatives' success or failure. Although he is prone to making sweeping statements, ("the country's engineers grade U.S. infrastructure somewhere between a C at best and a D at worst"), his sources are trust-worthy. However, while Haass lists steps toward positive change for the U.S., his solutions center on "politics" and require "real leadership," leading one to think that he is looking for solutions in an arena that has provided few superheroes.
