Containment: Rebuilding a Strategy against Global Terror

by Ian Shapiro

In this powerfully argued book, Ian Shapiro shows that the idea of containment offers the best hope for protecting Americans and their democracy into the future. His bold vision for American security in the post-September 11 world is reminiscent of George Kennan's historic "Long Telegram," in which the containment strategy that won the Cold War was first developed.


The Bush Doctrine of preemptive war and unilateral action has been marked by incompetence--missed opportunities to capture Osama bin Laden, failures of postwar planning for Iraq, and lack of an exit strategy. But Shapiro contends that the problems run deeper. He explains how the Bush Doctrine departs from the best traditions of American national-security policy and accepted international norms, and renders Americans and democratic values less safe. He debunks the belief that containment is obsolete. Terror networks might be elusive, but the enabling states that make them dangerous can be contained. Shapiro defends containment against charges of appeasement, arguing that force against a direct threat will be needed. He outlines new approaches to intelligence, finance, allies, diplomacy, and international institutions. He explains why containment is the best alternative to a misguided agenda that naively assumes democratic regime change is possible from the barrel of an American gun.


President Bush has defined the War on Terror as the decisive ideological struggle of our time. Shapiro shows what a self-defeating mistake that is. He sets out a viable alternative that offers real security to Americans, reclaims America's international stature, and promotes democracy around the world.

Genres: Politics

216 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Ian Shapiro is Sterling Professor of Political Science and Henry R. Luce Director of the MacMillan Center at Yale University. He is known primarily for interventions in debates on democracy and on methods of conducting social science research. In democratic theory, he has argued that democracy's value comes primarily from its potential to limit domination rather than, as is conventionally assumed, from its operation as a system of participation, representation, or preference aggregation. In debates about social scientific methods, he is chiefly known for rejecting prevalent theory-driven and method-driven approaches in favor of starting with a problem and then devising suitable methods to study it.

Reviews

[Olivier Lepetit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short essay on why the Bush doctrine failed in the noughties and the devastating effect it had in the Middle East. Shed under today's lights and the rise of Daesh, it makes an interesting read and a lot of Shapiro's points are well illustrated. I wish that there were more concrete examples of what he proposes to do. How would you "contain" ISIS ?

[Abdulrahman · Rating 4 out of 5]

الأربع أو الخمس نجمات التي أعطيها لهذا الكتاب ليست عن إعجاب خاص به أو بما يمثله لي فأنا لست أميريكيا و إن كنت لأفعل لو كنت كذلك ، فهو يطرح نظريته بناء على المصلحة القومية لأميركا و يعيد بناء نظرية الاحتواء لجورج كينان مقدما إياها كاستراتيجية تصلح لمحاربة الإرهاب بدلا مما فعله جورج بوش الابن و بما أساء لأميركا قبل أن يسيئ للعالم ، أعود فأقول بأن النجوم التي أعطيها للكتاب هي بسبب ما يمنحه لك من قدرة على فهم طريقة تصرف القيادة الحالية لأميركا ( أوباما و الديمقراطيون ) التي تهمني بشكل خاص لما يتعلق بالشأن السوري .
و كما قدم ايان شوبير في بداية كتابه بأن هذا الكتاب ليس لإنقاذ الولايات المتحدة من العراق و تبعاته و إنما لمنعها من السقوط في عراق آخر ، الكتاب ليس كبيرا و جدا و النظرية يمكن تلخيصها بسرعة ، أما الباقي من الكتاب فهو إعادة تأكيد على بعض الأفكار و الاستدلال عليها مع جزء لا بأس به لنقد نظرية المحافظين الجدد و لنقد الديمقراطيين الذين لم يقدموا بديلا لها بعكس ما يحاول المؤلف في كتابه هذا

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[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short book (133 pages without notes, index, etc.) - reads more like a college text on International Relations than a book on current affairs for a general audience.

[Richard Harden · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author makes a very strong case for a global strategy that served us well for half a century, and makes you wonder why we continue to abandon it for a policy that clearly is not working now.