American Hegemony: Preventive War, Iraq, and Imposing Democracy

CIAO DATE: 06/04

Demetrios James Caraley, Editor

April 2004

Table of Contents

Editor's Foreword: Some Early Lessons (PDF, 11 pages, 170 KB)
Demetrios James Caraley, Barnard College and Columbia University

Introduction (PDF, 7 pages, 66 KB)
Walter LaFeber, Cornell University

Part I. The Rationale for Preventive War

1. Understanding the Bush Doctrine
Robert Jervis, Columbia University

Robert Jervis argues that the Bush doctrine presents a highly ambitious conception of U.S. foreign policy. Based on the premise that this is a period of great threat and great opportunity, the doctrine calls for the assertion and expansion of American power in service of hegemony. He concludes that this assertion and expansion is not likely to succeed.

Part II. Experiences From the First Preventive War

2. Deciding on War Against Iraq: Institutional Failures
Louis Fisher, Library of Congress

Louis Fisher analyzes the performance of U.S. political institutions in authorizing the war against Iraq in October 2002. He finds that the Bush administration failed to provide correct information to Congress to justify the war and relied on tenuous claims that were discredited on many occasions. He also argues that Congress failed in its institutional duties both by voting on the Iraq resolution without sufficient evidence and by drafting the legislation in such a way that it left the power to initiate war in the hands of the President, exactly what the Framers had tried to prevent.

3. Misperceptions, the Media, and the Iraq War
Steven Kull, Clay Ramsay, and Evan Lewis, PIPA, University of Maryland

Steven Kull, Clay Ramsay, and Evan Lewis examine the prevalence of misperceptions related to the Iraq war among the American public: that weapons of mass destruction and evidence of close links between Iraq and al Qaeda had been found and that world public opinion approved of the United States going to war with Iraq. Such misperceptions were powerful predictors of support for the war, and their prevalence varied dramatically according to respondents' primary source of news.

4. After Saddam: Regional Insecurity, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Proliferation Pressures in Postwar Iraq
Andrew Flibbert, New York University

Andrew Flibbert explores the weapons proliferation pressures that have long confronted Iraq. He argues that the logic of the security dilemma may one day lead Baghdad to renew its efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction. Democratization, responsible leadership, or a continued American military presence are unlikely to eliminate Iraq's quest for the deadliest weapons in a dangerous regional environment that covets Iraq's oil reserves.

Part III. American Power and the Implications for Democracy

5. Limits of American Power
Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Harvard University

Joseph S. Nye, Jr. discusses the paradox of the United States having unparalleled military power, yet being unable to impose its will unilaterally on either its allies or its antagonists. He explains clearly why America must adopt a more cooperative engagement with the rest of the world.

6. The Rise of Europe, America's Changing Internationalism, and the End of U.S. Primacy
Charles A. Kupchan, Georgetown University

Charles A. Kupchan argues that America's position of global dominance is far less durable than commonly presumed, as shown by lack of support for the war in Iraq. He contends that the next challenge to America's might comes not from the Islamic world or an ascendent China, but from an integrating Europe that is rising as a counterweight to the United States. The waning of American primacy will be expedited by the erosion of liberal internationalism in the United States, inducing other nations to resist rather than rally behind U.S. leadership.

7. How Countries Democratize
Samuel P. Huntington, Harvard University

Samuel P. Huntington analyzes the diverse political processes through which thirty-five countries have moved from authoritarianism toward democracy in the past fifteen years and derives guidelines from these experiences for future "democratizers."

8. Islam, Democracy, and Constitutional Liberalism
Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek

Fareed Zakaria reflects on the factors present in the Middle East that have provided for the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and a complete absence of democracy. He prescribes policy measures for the United States and the leaders of the Middle Eastern regimes in order to best transition the Middle East to a region where constitutional liberalism may flourish.