Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Security First (Etzioni, 2007) is a weighty and worthy addition to the growing debate on how to redefine U.S. foreign policy post-Iraq. In seeking to reintroduce clarity and prioritization into U.S. strategic thinking while retaining a place for morality, Etzioni's ideas have much in common with America's 20th-century classical realist tradition. Although it does good service by restating some sound principles, the Security First model still faces some uncertainties regarding its coherence and workability. These center on its assertion that morality and interests are complementary, its apparent assumption of the legitimacy and feasibility of neoimperial oversight in the international system, and its implicit avoidance of the hardest choices thanks to fragile assumptions concerning the ultimate inevitability of democracy's triumph. Meanwhile, its prescription of a new strategic outlook for Americans seems likely to fall foul of the resistance of American political culture to change against which realists have been railing for generations.

Keywords

Security First realism morality national interest democracy promotion

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Etzioni, A. (2007). Security first: For a muscular, moral foreign policy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Gaddis, J.L. (2005). Strategies of containment (rev. ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Kennan, G.F. (1984). American diplomacy (expanded ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Kissinger, H. (1994). Diplomacy. New York: Touchstone .

Lippmann, W. (1972). The Cold War: A study in U.S. foreign policy. New York: Harper & Row.

Layne, C. (2006). The peace of illusions: American grand strategy from 1940 to the present. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Lieven, A. , & Hulsman, J. (2006). Ethical realism: A vision for America's role in the world. New York: Pantheon.

Mearsheimer, J. (2003). The tragedy of great power politics. New York: Norton.

Morgenthau, H.J. (1982). In defence of the national interest: A critical examination of American foreign policy. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.

10.

Quinn, A. (2007). The great illusion: Chimeras of isolationism and realism in post-Iraq U.S. foreign policy. Politics & Policy , 35, 522-547.

11.

Quinn, A. (2008). The deal: The balance of power, military strength and liberal internationalism in the Bush national security strategy. International Studies Perspectives, 9, 1-17.

12.

Quinn, A. , & Cox, M. (2007). For better, for worse: How America's foreign policy became wedded to liberal universalism. Global Society, 21, 499-519.

13.

Rice, C. (2006). Special briefing on travel to the Middle East . Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State. Retrieved February 13, 2008, from http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2006/69331.htm

Renovating Realism

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References