A Grand Strategy for America

Art's indistinct strategy for U.S. foreign policy is about""selective engagement""--a hybrid foreign policy and defense posture that""steers a middle course between an overly restrictive and an overly expansive definition of America's interests,"" is""neither too quick nor too slow on the trigger"" militarily and strikes""a proper balance between overdoing it and underdoing it."" The Brandeis international relations professor proposes six concrete strategic interests--homeland defense, averting war in Eurasia, protecting oil supplies, spreading democracy, opening the world economy and protecting the environment--to guide policy makers. The result is a centrist version of current American policies. Art believes the U. S. should maintain its military deployments in Europe, East Asia and the Persian Gulf, and wage war when vital or highly important interests are threatened (and occasionally to head off a Rwanda-style genocide), but deplores the Bush Administration's unilateralism and""arrogance,"" and feels the U. S. should pay attention to world opinion, help combat global warming and eschew missile defense. He develops his argument in an academic fashion, proceeding from first principles (""when A seeks to influence B, it is attempting to affect B's behavior"") through pages of statistics, but it still lacks rigor, and his book feels ultimately like a careful rehash of conventional wisdom.