Temptations of Power: The United States in Global Politics After 9/11

Temptations of Powerexamines the new security dilemma which confronted President George W. Bush when terrorists proved for the first time on 9/11 that they could seriously wound even the greatest of military powers on its home ground. In their indictment, the authors argue that the response was influenced by a neo-conservative exaggeration of the efficacy of military power and a belief in the USA's ability to change the world and its own image. The first results were attacks on Afghanistan in 2001 and on Iraq in 2003, and the adoption of a general strategy of preventive war. Far from helping the War on Terror on which the Administration embarked, such attacks have shown the limitations of US power. The US is now embroiled in counter-insurgent operations in quagmires that are now sapping its economic, moral and military strength. Terrorism needs to be understood and its political roots addressed; the Muslim world will have to decide itself whether to adopt democratic systems of government; preventive wars are illegal and destabilising; threats from the proliferation of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons have to be addressed multilaterally; and the effort to prevent terrorist attacks in US homeland threatens in turn to undermine civil liberties. The new security dilemma needs to be addressed by new politics but not those Washington has adopted since 2001.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Introduction: Temptations of Power PART 1: GRAPPLING WITH THE NEW WORLD: CONCEPTS AND REALITIES September 11 2001 and its Aftermath Concepts and Realities Concepts in International Relations Realities in International Relations The Security Debate Limited Sovereignty International Intervention The Old and New Security Dilemmas PART 2: IDEOLOGIES, IDEAS AND SLOGANS IN GEORGE W. BUSH'S FOREIGN POLICY A Clash of Civilizations America as Empire The Neo-conservatives From Commentators and Analysts to George W. Bush PART 3: THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE IN THE WORLD From Victim to Pariah The Temptation of Iraq The Anti-Iraq Coalition, 2003 Why Europeans often Disagreed with the United States The Growth of US Military Power The End of the Balance of Power? The United States' Unipolar Moment PART 4: NEW CHALLENGES TO US HEGEMONY: CHINA AND THE MUSLIM WORLD The Challenge from China The Muslim Challenge PART 5: MILITARY POWER AND DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION The Uses and Abuses of Military Power Military Power and Democracy Coalition-building or Unilateral Action? The Importance of Restraint PART 6: THE TEMPTATION OF PREVENTIVE WAR Modern Precedents for Pre-emptive and Preventive Wars Israel's Preventive War Precedents in the Middle East The United States Creeps towards Pre-emptive and Preventive Strategies The US Decision to Launch Precentive War Fire Discipline Precision Attacks Preventive War and the 'Axis of Evil' Advantages and Disadvantages of Preventive War PART 7: MISUNDERSTANDING TERRORISM: THE SWORD The New Face of Conflict Terrorism as a Concept New and Old Terrorism Al-Qaeda, Affiliates, Regional Jihadists and Copycats Anti-terrorist Strategies Bush's Moment: War without Purpose PART 8: HOMELAND (IN) SECURITY: THE SHIELD Civil Liberties The Patriot Act Enemy Combatants Prison Abuses Justice or Security? The Department of Homeland Security Border Controls The Intelligence Agencies Nuclear Terrorism Financial Costs Homeland Securites Security or Insecurity? PART 9: CREATING QUAGMIRES: WINNING WARS AND LOSING THE PEACE Context and War in Afghanistan Context and War in Iraq Justifications and Denunciations of the Wars Consequences of the Wars Afghanistan since the War Iraq since the War Constitutional Developments in Iraq Staying Power and Counter-insurgency Ending Insurgencies Quagmires PART 10: THE BURDENS OF POWER Bibliography Index

About the Author :
ROBERT J. JACKSON is Fletcher Jones Professor of Government and Director of International Relations at the University of Redlands, California, USA. He is also Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Carleton University Ottawa and Life member of Clare Hall, University of Cambridge. His former experience includes employment in various high government positions, including Senior Policy Advisor to the Canadian Prime Minister. Since obtaining his DPhil from Oxford, he has published over 30 books in Comparative Politics and International Relations. Among the most recent are Politics in Canada, North American Politics and Europe in Transition. PHILIP TOWLE is Reader in International Relations at the Centre of International Studies at Cambridge University, UK, where he has taught for the last 25 years. He was previously employed by The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, The Australian National University in Canberra and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. His most recent books are Enforced Disarmament from the Napoleonic Campagin to the Gulf Warand Democracy and Peacemaking.