CIAO DATE: 03/2008
Volume: 32, Issue: 3
Winter 2007/08
America's Liberal Illiberalism: The Ideological Origins of Overreaction in U.S. Foreign Policy
Michael C. Desch
In recent years, Democrats and Republicans have endorsed illiberal policies that include the pursuit of global hegemony, the launching of a preventive war, restrictions on civil liberties, and torture. These policies seem to contradict the Liberal tradition of the United States , but it is precisely this tradition that compels Americans to spread their values around the world and combat terrorism in this way. Only a foreign policy strategy based on realism—a decidedly non-Liberal way of viewing the world—will preserve the domestic virtues of Liberalism while diminishing its negative effects abroad.
Power Shifts and Escalation: Explaining China's Use of Force in Territorial Disputes
M. Taylor Fravel
East Asia and the rest of the world have feared that China's rise would create regional instability, particularly if China used force in territorial disputes. Although this fear is not completely unfounded, Beijing has gone to great lengths to settle or neutralize the majority of its disputes and has rarely used force. Only after China experienced a decline in its bargaining power in six conflicts did its leaders face pressure to signal resolve through the use of force. Today, China's disputes over the Senkaku Islands and Taiwan remain the most volatile. As a major player in the region (particularly in the case of Taiwan), the United States can limit the potential for violence by continuing to support the status quo.
"New Fighting Power!" Japan's Growing Maritime Capabilities and East Asian Security
Richard J. Samuels
After World War II, Japan's U.S.-imposed constitution and regional opposition to its rearmament severely restricted its military capabilities. Recently, however, Japanese leaders have found a way around these external and internal restrictions by reframing the nature of the threat they face and by empowering the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) while reassuring the country's citizens and neighbors by classifying the JCG as a police, rather than a military, force. Although the JCG will not become a "second navy," it is continually gaining in power, and is already a fourth branch of the Japanese military, allowing Japan to take the lead in regional maritime security initiatives.
Great Powers and Hierarchical Order in Southeast Asia: Analyzing Regional Security Strategies
Evelyn Goh
The end of the Cold War left the stability of Southeast Asia in question, with many assuming that China would dominate the region after the United States withdrew and that other countries would engage in conflict. Instead, Southeast Asian states shaped the new regional order by encouraging the omni-enmeshment of major powers through multilateral institutions and indirectly balancing against China. The resulting stability, though promising, remains questionable because of uncertainty regarding U.S. commitment and Chinese intentions in this part of the world, as well as the involvement of other regional powers. The United States must widely engage Southeast Asia to maintain a favorable regional order.
A Cold Start for Hot Wars? The Indian Army's New Limited War Doctrine
Walter C. Ladwig III
India's inability to coerce Pakistan into halting its support for insurgents in Kashmir, as well as its experience in past conflicts with Pakistan, led it to develop Cold Start—a new offensive military doctrine that will allow it to mobilize quickly and retaliate in a limited manner. Although India is far from realizing its goal, this break from a traditional defensive strategy deserves scrutiny. A history of misperception and mistrust between India and Pakistan, poor intelligence, and domestic insecurity suggests that limited war could quickly escalate to the nuclear threshold, posing a serious risk to the stability of the subcontinent and the rest of the world.
Time and the Intractability of Territorial Disputes
Stacie E. Goddard, Jeremy Pressman, Ron E. Hassner
Do Small Arsenals Deter?
Rajesh M. Basrur, Michael D. Cohen, Ward Wilson