Reshaping America's Alliances for the Long Haul
Abstract
The United States currently faces a host of critical foreign and defense policy challenges, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, instability in Pakistan and the reconstitution of an operational sanctuary for al Qaeda and the Taliban in parts of that country, Iran's development of an indigenous uranium enrichment capability and perhaps a nuclear weapons program as well, a resurgent Russia that is increasingly authoritarian at home and assertive abroad, and China's ongoing development and deployment of advanced military capabilities. In addition to managing these current conflicts and potential crises, the President and his advisors will also be responsible for decisions that will shape US defense strategy and force structure for years and possibly decades to come. Because the dangers the United States now faces are so numerous and so demanding, one of the most critical tasks for the Obama administration will be to reassess and reshape America's military alliances. For more than half a century alliances have proven to be a crucial and enduring source of advantage for the United States, particularly as it implemented its decades long strategy of containment against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Not surprisingly, then, the value of alliances is routinely extolled by policy makers and in key strategic documents. The 2002 National Security Strategy, for instance, declared that the United States was "guided by the conviction that no nation can build a safer, better world alone. Alliances and multilateral institutions can multiply the strength of freedom-loving nations." More recently, the 2008 National Defense Strategy maintained: "The U.S. alliance system has been a cornerstone of peace and security for more than a generation and remains the key to our success, contributing significantly to achieving all U.S. objectives."
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA506832
Entities
People
- Evan B. Montgomery