Review
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"Posen's calmly heretical book is an argument for Washington to
discipline its seemingly compulsive and spasmodic projections of
global power.... [A] masterclass in threat deflation,... Barry
Posen's succinct policy brief is a deeply moral book. The correct
proportion of GDP to spend on defence, how many aircraft
carrier groups to deploy to the Persian Gulf: these are not just
technical matters. It is in just such questions that morality
inheres."
(Chase Madar Times Literary Supplement)
"Posen's new book will be compulsory reading for anyone concerned
with both the direction that US grand strategy has followed since
the end of the Cold War and the possible alternative strategies
to help secure vital American national interests, in a period
where once again we are witnessing a rise and fall power dynamic
in the international system.... This is an enormously important
and timely book which challenges the conventional wisdom about
the merits and logic of liberal hegemony. Restraint provides an
inful alternative that should be carefully pondered and will
certainly advance the debate on American grand strategy."
(Brian C. Schmidt International Affairs)
"In his deeply wise new book Restraint: A New Foundation for US
Grand Strategy, MIT professor Barry Posen agrees that powers that
have the might will always believe they have the right. That
China is climbing closer to the US on the power ladder requires
us to understand that it figures it's in the right no matter what
anyone says. Yet the US will stay in Asia as long as China thinks
it shouldn't. Even Posen, who wants the chore list of the US
substantially downsized (now in the network: some 800
extraterritorial bases, ports and airfields in more than 80
countries), puts it this way: 'Asia is a more difficult case
[than other issues for the US].... China may reach a point where
it has sufficient power to bid for hegemony.'But, speaking
directly to Beijing, the professor notes that China 'does not yet
possess much offensive capability; it can punish and harass, but
not crush or conquer. Its options are limited.'"
(Tom Plate South China Morning Post)
"Regardless of the reader's views on the grand strategy of
Restraint, this book has value. Posen outlines the benefits of
having a clearly articulated grand strategy and demonstrates the
pitfalls that the U.S. has faced in navigating national security
policy without this level of clarity. His case against becoming
embroiled in conflicts that require counterinsurgency operations
is strong."
(Joseph Becker Prism)
"An MIT professor, Posen has written a tightly argued, impeccably
sourced, and lucid case for a new American national security
strategy. Though written by an expert for experts, it is an
accessible read. No term is undefined, no assumpiton unspecified,
and no assertion not carefully supported."
(Jessica T. Mathews The New York Review of Books)
"Restraint makes an eloquent case for a new grand strategy. It is
not a new case, for it echoes the arguments offshore balancers
have been making for twenty years. It does, however, codify much
good thought and consistently makes judicious judgments with
precision and fairness. Critics of the status quo would do well
to incorporate Posen's case into public discourse."
(Jared McKinney The American Spectator)
""The three most consequential books of international relations
theory published at the end of the Cold War are Frances
Fukuyama's The End of History, Samuel Huntington’s The Clash of
Civilizations, and John Mearsheimer’s The Tragedy of Great Power
Politics.... Thankfully, there has now emerged a stunning new
contender: MIT Professor Barry Posen’s Restraint: The New
Foundation of American Grand Strategy. The good news is―if
employed―Posen’s prescriptive will enhance U.S. security and a
large measure of its post-Cold War global primacy within
realistic limits and at a lower cost."
(Donald L. Sassano Homeland Security)
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Review
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"Unnecessary and exhausting ventures have flowed from
the foreign policy elite's excessive ambition, overconfidence in
the appeal of U.S. policies, and facile underestimation of the
costs in blood and treasure. Barry R. Posen’s seasoned strategic
wisdom and technical expertise put these tragic mistakes in their
place and chart a realistic alternative to American overstretch."
(Richard K. Betts, Columbia University Saltzman Institute of War
and Peace Studies, author of American Force)
"Since the end of the Cold War, impulse and ideology, generously
seasoned with fantasy, have displaced principled strategy as the
basis for U. S. policy. In this important and timely volume,
Barry R. Posen illuminates the path back toward good sense and
sobriety. Restraint is a splendid achievement."
(Andrew J. Bacevich, Boston University, author of Breach of
Trust)
"It is fair, balanced, and rigorous. It is also an argument with
which this reviewer has a great deal of sympathy. Posen's book
will stand for many years as the most cogent, lucid, and
compelling argument for a major revision of for a more humble and
prudent approach to American foreign policy."
(Paul K. MacDonald & Joseph M. Parent)
"In this thought-provoking book, Barry R. Posen ventures
alternatives to―as well as inful critiques of―current U.S.
foreign and defense policies. He provides a brilliant
introduction to the concept of grand strategy, uses this to
analyze contemporary approaches to sustaining U.S. primacy, shows
how these approaches are both failing and unsustainable, puts
forward a refreshingly unconventional set of proposals for a new
U.S. grand strategy, and demonstrates how the aspects of
this grand strategy could be implemented while reducing the U.S.
defense burden to no more than 2.5 percent of GDP. Posen has
written a book that deserves a wide readership, full of ideas
that should feature prominently in an overdue national debate
about affordable national security."
(Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr., former Assistant Secretary of
Defense for International Security Affairs, Ambassador to wartime
Saudi Arabia, and author of four books on foreign policy,
statecraft, and diplomacy)
"Barry R. Posen is one of America's leading thinkers about grand
strategy. He has given us some of the best scholarly analysis of
how states use means to meet foreign policy objectives
and cogently described the various strategies America has
considered over the years. Now he is wading into the policy
debate by ing his intellectual on behalf of a new U.S.
grand strategy of restraint. In a sharply argued and
comprehensive book, Posen shows why the grand strategy of
primacy, which has guided America's strategy for the
past twenty years, is no longer economically sustainable nor
militarily necessary. He convincingly argues that restraint will
provide a sounder basis for ensuring U.S. national security in
the years to come."
(Michael C. Desch, University of Notre Dame, author of Power and
Effectiveness: The Fallacy of Democratic Triumphalism)
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