History, Strategy and Statecraft

"We rarely understand a moment until it has passed," writes LBJ Professor Jeremi Suri in a historical perspective on Sept. 11, 2001 in The Hill. "That is especially true in times of collective trauma. Twenty years ago, 19 young male terrorists associated with al Qaeda hijacked four planes in the United States, turning them into missiles that devastated lower Manhattan and the Pentagon. One of the planes, probably aimed at the U.S. Capitol, crashed in rural Pennsylvania. In all, 2,977 Americans died on Sept. 11, 2001, in the events that millions of people watched in horror, again and again, on television. "Then-Vice President Dick Cheney described a 'new kind of war against a new kind of enemy.' He warned a shocked nation that the 'terrorists who struck America are ruthless, they are resourceful, and they hide in many countries. They came into our country to murder thousands of innocent men, women and children. There is no doubt they wish to strike again, and they are working to acquire the deadliest of weapons.'"

History, with its insights, analogies, and narratives, is central to the ways in which the United States interacts with the world.  Historians and policymakers, however, rarely engage one another as they should.  This book bridges that divide, bringing together leading scholars and policymakers to address the essential questions surrounding the history-policy relationship. 

As the world shifts away from the unquestioned American hegemony that followed in the wake of the Cold War, the United States is likely to face new kinds of threats and sharper resource constraints than it has in the past. However, the country's alliances, military institutions, and national security strategy have changed little since the Cold War. American foreign and defense policies, therefore, should be assessed for their fitness for achieving sustainable national security amidst the dynamism of the international political economy, changing domestic politics, and even a changing climate.  This book brings together sixteen leading scholars from across political science, history, and political economy to highlight a range of American security considerations that deserve a larger role in both scholarship and strategic decision-making. In these chapters, scholars of political economy and the American defense budget examine the economic engine that underlies U.S. military might and the ways the country deploys these vast (but finite) resources. Historians illuminate how past great powers coped with changing international orders through strategic and institutional innovations. And regional experts assess America's current long-term engagements, from NATO to the chaos of the Middle East to the web of alliances in Asia, deepening understandings that help guard against both costly commitments and short-sighted retrenchments.  This interdisciplinary volume sets an agenda for future scholarship that links politics, economics, and history in pursuit of sustainable security for the United States - and greater peace and stability for Americans and non-Americans alike.

In The Impossible Presidency, celebrated historian Jeremi Suri charts the rise and fall of the American presidency, from the limited role envisaged by the Founding Fathers to its current status as the most powerful job in the world. He argues that the presidency is a victim of its own success-the vastness of the job makes it almost impossible to fulfill the expectations placed upon it. As managers of the world's largest economy and military, contemporary presidents must react to a truly globalized world in a twenty-four-hour news cycle. There is little room left for bold vision. Suri traces America's disenchantment with our recent presidents to the inevitable mismatch between presidential promises and the structural limitations of the office. A masterful reassessment of presidential history, this book is essential reading for anyone trying to understand America's fraught political climate.