Defiant Superpower

Donald E. Nuechterlein examines George W. Bush’s transformation of American foreign policy and the repercussions for the future. Defiant Superpower recounts how the Bush administration’s bold actions in response to September 11, 2001, toppled the Taliban and displayed American strength. But by 2002, much of the world, including our allies, had become alarmed by American assertiveness, particularly Bush’s proclamation that America would pursue preventative wars to eliminate future threats. The divergence of national interests between the United States and old allies became acute in early 2003 when Germany and France openly rejected U.S. plans to invade Iraq and bring about regime change. While the Bush administration’s defiant and unilateralist policies initially seemed to empower the United States to pursue its national interests, the pitfalls of this new American hegemony are now apparent. Occupying Iraq and engaging in a global"war on terror" are costly, in both human and economic terms, and the United States would benefit from broad-based international cooperation. Will Bush’s reelection mean that the robust hegemony of his first term is here to stay, or will he moderate his style and objectives to mend fences with old allies? Defiant Superpower offers a balanced critique of recent foreign policy and suggests how policymakers should recognize the limits of the new hegemony in order to determine America’s realistic national interests.

"In DEFIANT SUPERPOWER, Donald Nuechterlein uses the national interest model that he pioneered to assess the evolution of American international power since the attacks of September 11, 2001. With remarkable clarity of thought and expression, he evaluates both old and new discussions of the United States as an imperial power and concludes that it is a hegemon, albeit a limited one. By examining the requirements of homeland security, global order, American political values, and economic prosperity, Nuechterlein demonstrates both the powerful temptation of successive administrations to act outside traditional alliances and international organizations and the real and potential costs of such endeavors. This is a sober evaluation, not only of the transformations of American foreign policy since the end of the Cold War and 9/11, but of the choices that must be made to secure American influence in the future." --Robert S. Wood, Dean Emeritus of Naval Warfare Studies and Nimitz Chair of National Security and Foreign Affairs, Naval War College

Donald E. Nuechterlein's career has included service in the State Department, the U.S. Information Agency, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In 1968 he was a founding faculty member of the Federal Executive Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia. Since then, he has been a lecturer at various universities, including the University of Virginia, Queen's University in Canada, and the University of Kaiserslautern in Germany, and a research scholar at St. Anthony's College, Oxford. He is the author of eight books on American foreign policy and international relations, including America Recommended: A Superpower Assesses it's Role in a Turbulent World. He lives in Charlottesville.