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CIAO DATE: 12/02
Fall 2000 (Volume 25 Issue 2)
Is Strategy an Illusion? by Richard K. Betts
Does strategy exist? The skeptics say no: the realities of war - its boundless complexities and uncertainties - make effective strategy impossible. Others who respond positively nonetheless disagree on strategy's central features and its ability to influence the outcome of war. Defining strategy as 'a plan for using military means to achieve political ends,' Richard Betts of Columbia University examines ten critiques of the practicability of strategy and responds to each. Betts concludes that the prospects for successfully implementing a particular strategy are weak at best. With this qualification in mind, Betts then outlines several scenarios in which strategy can work.
Why China Cannot Conquer Taiwan by Michael O'Hanlon
Growing tensions between Taipei and Beijing have led many to call for a more formal U.S. commitment to defend Taiwan. Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution contends that even without direct U.S. military involvement, China cannot conquer Taiwan, a situation that is likely to hold for at least the next decade. Accordingly, O'Hanlon counsels U.S. policymakers against formally committing the United States to the defense of Taiwan, arguing that officials in Taipei could misread such a step as U.S. encouragement of Taiwan's drive for independence - the result of which could be a major confrontation between the United States and China.
The 1995-96 Taiwan Strait Confrontation: Coercion, Credibility, and the Use of Force by Robert S. Ross
Robert Ross of Boston College analyzes the consequences of the Clinton administration's May 1995 decision to approve a visa for Taiwan's leader, Lee Teng-hui, to visit the United States. That decision, according to Ross, represented the latest in a series of actions taken by U.S. officials that seemed to signal a shift in U.S. policy toward Taiwan. Ross traces the events culminating in the March 1996 Taiwan Strait confrontation, in which the United States demonstrated its commitment to defend Taiwan against mainland China by deploying two carrier battle groups to the strait. That incident, Ross argues, demonstrates how easy it is for the United States to be drawn into a debate over an issue of peripheral U.S. concern: Taiwan's legal status. Ross ends on a cautionary note: 'Washington cannot permit American ideological support for Taiwan's democracy...to undermine the politics of war and peace between the United States and China.'
Bringing in Darwin: Evolutionary Theory, Realism, and International Politics by Bradley A. Thayer
Realists offer various reasons why states are driven by self-interest and a desire to dominate others. Classical realists grounded their explanations in theology or metaphysics. Neorealists such as Kenneth Waltz argue that the anarchic nature of the international system compels states to engage in self-help behavior. Bradley Thayer of the University of Minnesota at Duluth offers another alternative. He posits that egoism and domination, two 'critical components of any realist argument in explaining international politics,' are the products of evolution. In grounding realism in evolutionary theory, Thayer maintains that he is according realism the scientific legitimacy it has lacked thus far.
Breaking New Ground or Breaking the Rules: Strategic Reorientation in U.S. Industrial Policy by Glenn R. Fong
Does the United States have an industrial policy? Some say that the U.S. laissez-faire approach works against the development of any meaningful industrial policy. Glenn Fong of the American Graduate School of International Management disagrees. Based on an examination of nine case studies, Fong concludes that the federal government has not only improved its capability to develop and execute technology and industrial policy measures, but has done so for the specific purpose of enhancing U.S. economic competitiveness.
The Constructivist Challenge to Structural Realism: A Review Essay by Dale C. Copeland
Dale Copeland of the University of Virginia reviews Alexander Wendt's book, Social Theory of International Politics. Copeland criticizes Wendt's central claim - that states' discursive social practices create a shared culture that determines whether the international system is conflictual or peaceful - for its failure to consider a critical aspect of the realist worldview: the influence of uncertainty on state behavior.