The Future of Power Age Diffuses Power, Placing More Dangers Outside Tions, Reach Beyond Governments to Nonstate Able

COFFEY

power (for example, diplomacy, public diplo- in concert with others.” Taking a multilateral given current fiscal straits, we must distinguish Book Review macy, exchanges, assistance/training programs) approach, the administration will mobilize all between those missions and initiatives vital to to attract and persuade foreign publics will be available resources in a “blend of principle and national safety and prosperity and those that critical in a global information age. The cyber pragmatism” to revitalize international institu- are merely desirable and, therefore, expend- The Future of Power age diffuses power, placing more dangers outside tions, reach beyond governments to nonstate able. Our oldest commitments belong to the By Joseph S. Nye, Jr. the control of even powerful states. States will actors and people, and join others to solve shared first category: U.S. security guarantees and PublicAffairs, 2011 still play the dominant role on the world stage, problems. Setting forth an ambitious global military presence in the Middle East, East Asia, 300 pp., $27.99 but that stage will become more crowded and agenda in a “new American Moment,” Secretary and Europe. Our newer commitments of the ISBN: 978–1–58648–891–8 unruly. In coming decades, the rising power of Clinton seemed heedless of limits and the need last 20 years—nation-building in such places other state and nonstate actors will challenge a to set priorities. America must do it all. “What as Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, and still preponderant America. The United States, do we give up on? What do we put on the back- Afghanistan—are expendable.4 Similarly, John REVIEWED BY JOHN W. COFFEY therefore, will need “power with others as much burner?” she asked. Council President Richard Mearsheimer urges a return to America’s tra- as power over others. America’s capacity to Haass raised the awkward question of money. ditional “grand strategy of offshore balancing” maintain alliances and create networks will be With U.S. debt nearing the size of gross domes- aimed at preventing a hostile hegemon from n his latest book, Joseph Nye presents a an important dimension of the nation’s hard tic product and deficits running at $1.5 trillion a dominating the same three vital areas.5 comprehensive examination of the multi- and soft power.” year, Haass objected, how can America conduct Professor Nye’s book has won wide acclaim, I faceted dimensions of power and advances In what he calls liberal realism, Nye pro- foreign policy as if it had unlimited resources. yet how new is smart power? Apart from a novel a framework for what he calls “liberal realism.” poses an American “smart power strategy” cen- The Secretary answered that making the right diffusion of power in the cyber age, if smart Nye writes for the “intelligent reader” rather tered on multilateralism and partnering in the decisions will be “very tough.” power means the adroit marshaling of hard and than an academic audience and offers a set of context of a global information age. Based on Neither the Secretary’s agenda nor Nye’s soft resources in a multilateral approach to com- recommendations for a smart power strategy in a synthesis of interests and values, this strategy book takes sufficient account of the Nation’s fis- mon problems, what, if not smart power, was the 21st century.1 Smart power, he explains, is gives priority to national interests, but consid- cal peril and its consequences for America’s role the post–World War II American statecraft that “the combination of the hard power of coercion ers values “an intangible national interest.” in the world. Nye claims that the country can created the international security and politico- and payment with the soft power of persuasion Tradeoffs and compromises are inevitable, Nye solve its debt problem with consumption taxes economic architecture that underlay seven and attraction.” concedes. While according an unexceptionable and expenditure cuts to pay for entitlement pro- decades of security and prosperity benefiting According to Nye, the problem confronting primacy to securing national survival, his grand grams once the economy recovers. He overlooks much of the world? all states in the new century is the increasing strategy recommends all manner of multina- the daunting political task of reducing entitle- Nye counsels restraint in democracy pro- number of threats (for example, international tional good works. ment programs themselves, the main driver motion, but he elevates our values to an “intan- financial instability and terrorism) outside their Nye notes that his concept of smart power of the country’s unsustainable debt. Richard gible national interest,” and his liberal realism control resulting from a diffusion of power from has influenced the Obama administration’s Haass and Roger Altman have issued a dire fis- invites an ambitious foreign policy. The Obama states to nonstate actors. Military power has not policy. And so it has. In two speeches before cal forecast entailing huge spending cuts and administration’s smart power strategy joins become obsolete, but will continue to under- the Council on Foreign Relations,2 Secretary substantial tax hikes, and Michael Mandelbaum interests and values. Secretary Clinton declares pin international order and shape the agenda of State Hillary Clinton outlined the smart has written a bracing book explaining how that “democratic values are a cornerstone of our and political calculations of leaders. Economic power strategy “central to our thinking and our economic constraints will inevitably curtail foreign policy” and rejects what she calls a false resources will remain a tool of smart power as decision-making.” The “heart of America’s mis- America’s post–World War II activist foreign choice “between our security and our values.”6 well, although nonstate actors and market vicis- sion in the world today,” she stated, is to exer- policy with baleful effects for the stability and This expansive view of foreign policy recalls the situdes will constrain its exercise. The use of soft cise “American leadership to solve problems prosperity of the world.3 hubris of “democratic transformation,” what Nor does Nye, beyond a nod to recogniz- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice termed ing limits, come to grips with setting priorities a “uniquely American realism,” according to Dr. John W. Coffey served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy from 1986 to 1988 and as a Civil Servant at the Departments of Commerce and State for 15 years, among national interests in order to match which our national interests require an inter- retiring in 2005. limited means to ends. As Mandelbaum argues, national order reflecting our values.7

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During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Chris Stevens to ascertain just who the rebels mankind. As Henry Kissinger and James Baker Washington, DC, July 15, 2009; and “Remarks on Senator Barack Obama often distinguished are and what additional support they might write, “our idealistic goals cannot be the sole United States Foreign Policy,” Council on Foreign between the bad war of choice (Iraq) and the need. From the start, the administration failed motivation for the use of force in U.S. foreign Relations, Washington, DC, September 8, 2010. good war of necessity (Afghanistan). On March to match the means of limited force to its max- policy. We cannot be the world’s policeman. 3 Roger C. Altman and Richard N. Haass, 19, a U.S.-led coalition initiated a humanitarian imalist goal of regime change, defying a fact We cannot use military force to meet every “American Profligacy and American Power: The war against Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi, of life that in a less risk-averse age, every boy humanitarian challenge that may arise. Where Consequences of Fiscal Irresponsibility,” Foreign launching Operation Odyssey Dawn to create a learned on the schoolyard playground: Don’t would we stop?”13 Affairs (November–December 2010), 25–34; Michael no-fly zone to neutralize Qadhafi’s air force and start a fight you can’t finish. The United States will not have a cred- Mandelbaum, The Frugal Superpower: America’s enforce an arms embargo in order to protect Some countries may draw a less benevolent ible foreign policy until it adopts a more modest Global Leadership in a Cash-Strapped Era (New York: civilians from his suppression of rebel forces. lesson from America’s moralistic intervention, as conception of its national interests and ceases PublicAffairs, 2010); also “Foreign Policy in an Age In a March 28 speech to the Nation, President Russia did from President Bill Clinton’s Balkan to meddle in other states’ domestic affairs in of Austerity: A Conversation with Brent Scowcroft,” Obama justified this optional war in a third humanitarian intervention.9 The bald fact is the vain attempt to reform them according The American Interest (January–February 2010), 30–39. Muslim country, asserting America’s responsi- that Libya is weak and, unlike Saudi Arabia or to supposed “universal values.” This need for 4 Michael Mandelbaum, “In an Era of bility to mankind and “who we are. . . . Some Bahrain where we have bigger fish to fry,10 of self-restraint becomes more exigent particu- Tightening Budgets, Can America Remain a nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atroci- marginal strategic interest. The United States larly in Muslim lands, where no Lech Walesa or Superpower on the Cheap?” The Washington Post, ties in other countries. The United States of is strong enough to get away with it. Nor will Vaclav Havel waits in the wings to lead. Former February 17, 2011. America is different. And as President, I refused the United States punish a far more monstrous Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned, “We 5 John J. Mearsheimer, “Imperial By Design,” The to wait for the images of slaughter and mass regime than Qadhafi’s—North Korea. Kim have to be very realistic about our capacity to National Interest (January–February 2011), 16–34. graves before taking action.”8 Jong-il knows the reason. That is why he is shape the world and to shape other countries 6 Hillary Rodham Clinton, “Civil Society: As he spoke, the President proclaimed not going to give up his nuclear weapons. The that have their own history and their own cul- Supporting Democracy in the 21st Century,” Krakow, mission accomplished for our limited objec- ancient Athenians, who also boasted of who they ture and their own traditions—and particularly, Poland, July 3, 2010; “Remarks on United States tive and transferred leadership to our North were and their values, taught the Melians a harsh to shape them in our image.”14 Secretary of State Foreign Policy,” Council on Foreign Relations, Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) partners. geopolitical lesson. Practical people understand, John Quincy Adams classically stated this pol- Washington, DC, September 8, 2010. However, the shape of Obama’s “coalition of the Athenian envoys informed the Melians, “the icy of American self-restraint in a speech to 7 Condoleezza Rice, “American Realism for a willing” and of the mission itself are unclear. standard of justice depends on the equality of the House of Representatives on July 4, 1821: New World,” Foreign Affairs (July–August 2008), 3–5. The war has divided NATO and demonstrated power to compel and that in fact the strong do “Wherever the standard of freedom and inde- Another architect of the Bush Doctrine sees its progeny the irrelevance of the European Union, from what they have the power to do and the weak pendence has been or shall be unfurled, there in the Obama Doctrine: Michael Gerson, “In Search its inception the creature of French foreign accept what they have to accept.”11 will her [America’s] heart, her benedictions of the Obama Doctrine,” The Washington Post, March policy. The Arab League, after endorsing the Professor Nye hails President Obama’s and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad, in 31, 2011. A key Bush advisor on Iraq warns of paral- no-fly zone, expressed shock at civilian casual- Libyan war as smart power in action.12 If he is search of monsters to destroy. She is the well- lels in Libya: Meghan O’Sullivan, “Will Libya Become ties. Mission creep has expanded the scope of correct, the future of American power is bleak. wisher to the freedom and independence of all. Obama’s Iraq?” The Washington Post, April 3, 2011. action from protecting civilians to attacking Smart power offers a guide to the implementa- She is the champion and vindicator only of her 8 Barack Obama, “Address to the Nation on Qadhafi’s ground forces and supplies to force tion of foreign policy, but smart power will be own.”15 PRISM Libya,” National Defense University, Washington, regime change. As of this writing, the conflict to no avail if policy goals are dumb. Armed DC, March 28, 2011. has ground to a stalemate, while Qadhafi has humanitarian intervention, particularly if Notes 9 See Michael Mandelbaum, “Modest parried the effects of Allied economic sanc- irresolute, and opportunistic regime change 1 See also Joseph S. Nye, Jr., “The Future Expectations: Facing Up to Our Russia Options,” The tions more successfully than the rebels in the are profoundly ill-conceived goals for U.S. for- of American Power: Dominance and Decline in American Interest (May–June 2009), 52. east, and France and Britain, the instigators of eign policy. History will forever remain replete Perspective,” Foreign Affairs (November–December 10 See Joby Warrick and Michael Birnbaum, the Libyan venture, are running out of ammo. with cruel tyrants and their atrocities. No end 2010), 2–12. “As Bahrain Stifles Protest Movement, U.S.’s Muted Belatedly, President Obama dispatched Central exists to humanitarian warmaking for a nation 2 Hillary Rodham Clinton, “Foreign Policy Objections Draw Criticism,” The Washington Post, Intelligence Agency teams and special envoy that would assume the moral custodianship of Address at the Council on Foreign Relations,” April 15, 2011.

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11 Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, trans. Rex Warner (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1954), Book V, 360. 12 Joseph S. Nye, Jr., “From Lone Ranger to Smart Arranger,” Politico, April 7, 2011. 13 Henry A. Kissinger and James A. Baker III, “Grounds for U.S. Military Intervention,” The Washington Post, April 10, 2011. 14 Quoted in Michael Gerson, “The Paradox of Bob Gates,” The Washington Post, March 14, 2011. 15 Quoted in Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), 35.

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