Numerous polls show that Americans want to reduce our military presence abroad, allowing our allies and other nations to assume greater responsibility both for their own defense and for enforcing security in their respective regions. In The Power Problem, Christopher A. Preble explores the aims, costs, and limitations of the use of this nation's military power; throughout, he makes the case that the majority of Americans are right, and the foreign policy experts who disdain the pu...

U.S. security does not require nearly 1,600 nuclear weapons deployed on a triad of systems—bombers, land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs)—to deliver them. A new paper from Benjamin H. Friedman, Christopher A. Preble and Matt Fay encourages abandonment of the triad and skepticism about the received wisdom justifying U.S. nuclear weapons’ policies. The authors suggest that shifting to a submarine-based monad would serve U.S....

The Indian Ocean, with its critical routes for global commerce, is a potentially volatile location for geopolitical strife. Even as the region’s role in the international economy and as a highway to conflict zones increases, the US has failed to advance a coherent strategy for protecting its interests in the Indian Ocean or for managing complex diplomatic relationships across the region. The Indian Ocean and US Grand Strategy presents a range of viewpoints about whether and how the US shou...

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump broke not only from the Republican Party but also from the bipartisan consensus on U.S. foreign policy. Calling the Iraq War a terrible mistake and lamenting America’s nation-building expeditions, Trump evinced little interest in maintaining the traditional form of American leadership of the liberal international order. Instead, Trump’s “America First” vision called for a reassertion of American nationalism on the economic front as well as in forei...

Originally published in 1972, Christopher McKee’s biography of Edward Preble remains the most authoritative source on this influential early shaper of the U.S. naval tradition. McKee documents Preble’s rise from obscurity to become Thomas Jefferson’s chief administrator. He chronicles the officer’s relationship with Jefferson and outlines the president’s policies and strategies during the Barbary Wars. McKee also brings to light the Tripolitan activities and attitudes that confronted Prebl...

In its dealings with the broader world, has the United States been a force for liberty? Should it be? And if so, how?To answer these questions, Peace, War, and Liberty: Understanding U.S. Foreign Policy traces the history of United States foreign policy and the ideas that have animated it, and considers not only whether America's policy choices have made the world safer and freer but also the impact of those choices on freedom at home.In this evenhanded bu...

In 2013, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey stated that the world is “more dangerous than it has ever been.” Is this accurate? Do we live in a world that is uniquely dangerous? Is it possible that the many threats and dangers promoted by policymakers and the media are exaggerated or overblown? In this timely edited volume, experts on international security assess – and put into context – the supposed dangers to American security. The authors examine the most frequent...