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BestsellerE-book
Author Mandelbaum, Michael, author.

Title Mission failure : America and the world in the post-Cold War era / Michael Mandelbaum.

Publication Info. New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2016]
©2016

Item Status

Description 1 online resource
Physical Medium polychrome
Description text file
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents Introduction -- China, the Global Economy, and Russia -- Humanitarian Intervention -- The War on Terror and Afghanistan -- Iraq -- The Middle East -- The Restoration -- Conclusion.
Summary "In Mission Failure, Mandelbaum argues that, in the past 25 years, U.S. foreign policy has undergone a significant shift. Historically, U.S. foreign policy was oriented primarily toward threat reduction, but the U.S. military has turned in recent years to missions that are largely humanitarian and socio-political. Mandelbaum argues that ideologically-driven foreign policy--that which seeks to reconstruct societies along Western lines--generally leads to mission failure"-- Provided by publisher.
"America's decision in 1991 to provide air defense to oppressed Kurds in Iraq after the Gulf War ushered in an entirely new era in American foreign policy. Until that moment, the United States had only used military power to defend against threats that its leaders thought would either weaken America's position in the world order or--in the worst case--threaten the homeland. But with this offer to the Kurds, the United States for the first time ever was now militarily involved in states that represented no threat, and with missions that were largely humanitarian and socio-political. After establishing the Kurdish no-fly zone, the US in quick succession intervened in Somalia, Haiti, and Kosovo. Even after 9/11, it decided that it had a duty to not just invade Iraq, but reconstruct Iraqi society along Western lines. In Mission Failure, the eminent scholar Michael Mandelbaum provides a comprehensive history of post-Cold War American foreign policy to show why this new approach was doomed to failure. Mandelbaum argues that all major foreign policy initiatives, both before and after September 11, 2001, had a basic feature in common: all were missions to transform other countries along Western lines, and all failed. This shift in policy did result in several positive effects, including a broad expansion of democracy and strong growth in the global economy. However, the U.S. had neither the capacity nor the will to change societies that were dramatically different from our own. Over two decades later, we can see the wreckage: a broken Iraq, a teetering Afghanistan, and a still-impoverished Haiti. Mandelbaum does not deny that American foreign policy has always had a strong ideological component. Instead, he argues that focusing solely on ideology at the expense of realism generally leads to mission failure"-- Provided by publisher.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject United States -- Foreign relations -- 1989-
United States.
International relations.
Chronological Term 1989-
Subject United States -- Foreign relations -- Philosophy.
Philosophy.
Ideology -- Political aspects -- United States.
Ideology -- Political aspects.
Ideology.
Realism -- Political aspects -- United States.
Realism -- Political aspects.
Realism.
United States -- Military policy.
Military policy.
Humanitarian intervention -- History -- 20th century.
Humanitarian intervention.
History.
Chronological Term 20th century
Subject Humanitarian intervention -- History -- 21st century.
Chronological Term 21st century
Since 1900
Genre/Form Electronic books.
History.
Other Form: Erscheint auch als: Druck-Ausgabe Mandelbaum, Michael. Mission Failure . America and the World in the Post-Cold War Era
ISBN 9780190469481 (electronic book)
019046948X (electronic book)
9780190469498
0190469498
9780190469474