The Stupidity of War
American Foreign Policy and the Case for Complacency

This innovative argument shows the consequences of increased aversion to international war for foreign and military policy.

John Mueller (Author)

9781108843836, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 4 March 2021

342 pages
23.5 x 16.1 x 2.2 cm, 0.63 kg

'analytic, witty, and highly readable.' Michael J. Ard, The Russell Kirk Center

It could be said that American foreign policy since 1945 has been one long miscue; most international threats - including during the Cold War - have been substantially exaggerated. The result has been agony and bloviation, unnecessary and costly military interventions that have mostly failed. A policy of complacency and appeasement likely would have worked better. In this highly readable book, John Mueller argues with wisdom and wit rather than ideology and hyperbole that aversion to international war has had considerable consequences. There has seldom been significant danger of major war. Nuclear weapons, international institutions, and America's super power role have been substantially irrelevant; post-Cold War policy has been animated more by vast proclamation and half-vast execution than by the appeals of liberal hegemony; and post-9/11 concerns about international terrorism and nuclear proliferation have been overwrought and often destructive. Meanwhile, threats from Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, or from cyber technology are limited and manageable. Unlikely to charm Washington, Mueller explains how, when international war is in decline, complacency and appeasement become viable diplomatic devices and a large military is scarcely required.

Part I. Assessing the Threat Record: 1. Korea, massive extrapolation, deterrence, and the crisis circus
2. Vietnam, containment, and the curious end of the cold war
3. Military intervention and the continued quest for threat after the cold war
4. Al-Qaeda and the 9/11 wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan
5. Chasing terrorists around the globe and other post-9/11 ventures
Part II. Evaluating Present Threats: 6. The rise of China, the assertiveness of Russia, and the antics of Iran
7. Proliferation, terrorism, humanitarian intervention, and other problems
8. Hedging, risk, arrogance, and the Iraq syndrome.

Subject Areas: Warfare & defence [JW], International relations [JPS], Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000 [HBLW3], History of the Americas [HBJK]