Making the unipolar moment: U.S. foreign policy and the rise of the post-Cold War order

482 Pages·2016·3.177 MB·English

by  Brands, Hal

MAKING THE UNIPOLAR MOMENT

MAKING THE
UNIPOLAR
MOMENT
U.S. FOREIGN POLICY AND THE RISE
OF THE POST–COLD WAR ORDER
Hal Brands
CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS
Ithaca and London
Cover design: Scott Levine.
Copyright © 2016 by Hal Brands
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review,
this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any
form without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage
House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.
First published 2016 by Cornell University Press
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Brands, Hal, 1983– author.
Title: Making the unipolar moment : U.S. foreign policy
and the rise of the post-Cold War order / Hal Brands.
Description: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2016. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015048539
ISBN 9781501702723 (cloth : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: United States—Foreign relations—
1977–1981. | United States—Foreign relations—
1981–1989. | United States—Foreign
relations—1989–1993.
Classification: LCC E872 .B73 2016 |
DDC 327.73009/04—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015048539
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Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Structure, Strategy,
and American Resurgence 1
1. Roots of Resurgence 14
The 1970s and the Crisis
of American Power 17
The Paradoxical Cold War 29
Human Rights and the
Democratic Revolution 39
Globalization and
Economic Renewal 53
Conclusion 67
2. The Reagan Offensive and the
Transformation of the Cold War 68
Reagan, American Prospects,
and the Cold War 70
Taking the Offensive 74
Success, Failure, and Adaptation 88
Reagan and Gorbachev 97
Blowback 113
Conclusion 117
3. American Statecraft and the
Democratic Revolution 119
Reagan’s Democratic Evolution 121
Anticommunism and Democracy
in Central America 130
vi CONTENTS
A Historic Opening in
Latin America 142
From Authoritarian to Democratic
Stability in East Asia 150
Constructive Engagement and
South Africa 160
Conclusion 168
4. Toward the Neoliberal Order 172
Reaganomics at Home and Abroad 174
Trade, Finance, and Policy
Coordination in the
Western World 182
Debt, Leverage, and Neoliberal
Ascendancy in the Third World 198
The Market and the Middle
Kingdom 216
Conclusion 221
5. Structure versus Strategy in the
Greater Middle East 224
The Iranian Revolution and the
Three Challenges 225
Persian Gulf Security and
the Iran-Iraq War 234
The Travails of Counterterrorism 242
Radical Islam and the Afghan Jihad 255
Iran-Contra and After 260
Conclusion 272
6. The Dawn of the Unipolar Moment 274
The Bush Administration on the
Eve of Unipolarity 276
German Reunification and
the Shaping of Post–Cold
War Europe 279
The Persian Gulf War and the
Unveiling of Unipolarity 298
CONTENTS vii
Primacy and Post–Cold
War Strategy 317
Conclusion 334
Conclusion: Understanding the
Arc of American Power 336
Key Themes and Conclusions 338
American Power and Policy in the
Post–Cold War Era 347
Notes 363
Index 459

Acknowledgments
A book’s acknowledgments are rarely sufficient
to convey the extent of an author’s debts. I have become ever more conscious
of that fact in writing this book. This book draws on research done as far
back as 2004–2005, and on ideas that I have been mulling over for several
years. It follows that I have racked up a daunting list of intellectual, profes-
sional, and personal debts along the way.
I have benefited from the assistance and guidance of archivists far too
many to mention, and from the support and wonderful intellectual climate
provided by my home institution, the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy.
I have equally benefitted from my interaction with individuals who helped
me formulate, reconsider, and refine some of the key ideas in this book.
An undoubtedly incomplete list includes Colin Dueck, Charles Edel, Eric
Edelman, Jeffrey Engel, John Gaddis, Peter Feaver, Bruce Jentleson, Judith
Kelley, Bruce Kuniholm, Melvyn Leffler, Peter Mansoor, John Maurer, Wil-
liamson Murray, Joshua Rovner, Daniel Sargent, Josh Shifrinson, and James
Wilson. I am particularly grateful to Frank Gavin, James Goldgeier, Robert
McMahon, and Jeremi Suri, all of whom read the complete manuscript
and offered invaluable comments. At Cornell University Press, Michael
McGandy offered support along with insightful advice and was, as always, a
pleasure to work with.
My greatest debts by far, of course, are owed to my family. Emily, Henry,
Annabelle, and Dolly put up with a lot of long hours and authorial absent-
mindedness as I was researching and composing the book. But they were
always unfailingly loving and supportive, and having them in my life has
been the greatest inspiration I can imagine. They did more than anyone else
to make this book possible. And so it is dedicated, with great love, to them.
ix