The Reluctant Sheriff: The United States After the Cold War

by Richard N. Haass

It is now seven years since the end of the Cold War—and still there is no name for the present era, much less an American foreign policy to replace the obsolete doctrine of containment. The Reluctant Sheriff fills this void. It is the first book to provide a comprehensive understanding of the post-Cold War world and a compass to help the United States navigate it.Richard Haass proposes that the United States adopt a new foreign policy—"regulation"—and work to promote order in an often unruly world. Haass suggests that the United States will often need to assume the role of global sheriff, forging coalitions or posses of states and others for specific tasks. Haass also argues that Americans need to resist the lure of isolationism and maintain spending on defense, intelligence, foreign aid, and diplomacy at current (and affordable) levels. He warns that anything less risks squandering the spoils of winning the Cold War—and setting the stage for a new era of dangerous global competition.

148 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1997

About the author

Dr. Richard Nathan Haass is in his fourteenth year as president of the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, publisher and educational institution dedicated to being a resource to help people better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries.

In 2013, he served as the chair of the multiparty negotiations in Northern Ireland that provided the foundation for the 2014 Stormont House Agreement. For his efforts to promote peace and conflict resolution, he received the 2013 Tipperary International Peace Award.

From January 2001 to June 2003, Dr. Haass was director of policy planning for the Department of State, where he was a principal advisor to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Confirmed by the U.S. Senate to hold the rank of ambassador, Dr. Haass also served as U.S. coordinator for policy toward the future of Afghanistan and U.S. envoy to the Northern Ireland peace process. In recognition of his service, he received the State Department’s Distinguished Honor Award.

Dr. Haass has extensive additional government experience. From 1989 to 1993, he was special assistant to President George H.W. Bush and senior director for Near East and South Asian affairs on the staff of the National Security Council. In 1991, Dr. Haass was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal for his contributions to the development and articulation of U.S. policy during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Previously, he served in the Departments of State (1981–1985) and Defense (1979–1980), and was a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate.

Dr. Haass also was vice president and director of foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, the Sol M. Linowitz visiting professor of international studies at Hamilton College, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, and a research associate at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. A Rhodes scholar, Dr. Haass holds a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and master’s and doctorate degrees from Oxford University. He has also received numerous honorary degrees.

Dr. Haass is the author or editor of thirteen books on American foreign policy and one book on management. His latest book is A World in Disarray: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order, published in 2017 by Penguin Press.

Reviews

[Joseph Stieb · Rating 4 out of 5]

First to review! I'm a little surprised that Haass' book doesn't have more reviewers. He's sort of one of my foreign policy idols, and this book does a lot to back that up. This is a very short book but it has a compelling argument. Haass argues that the post cold war world is best defined as an age of deregulation. The Cold War provided a certain structure to the international system and a rubric for US grand strategy. When the Cold War ended, a flurry of long-simmering issues rose to the forefront: WMD proliferation, rogue states, environmental problems, terrorism, civil wars, regional conflicts, etc. US interests remained largely the same, but the threats to those interests became more varied. Haass makes the interesting point that formal alliances will be harder to sustain in the post CW world because of a lack of a clear, priority threat (USSR or China) and disagreement over what the main threats to different national interests are. As a result, he says the US should be prepared to lead posses against different threats based on who has an interest in countering that threat or achieving some objective. He cites the Gulf War coalition as that type of threat.

Haass' post CW world is both deregulated and interdependent. Even though it's a really confusing place, the US doesn't realistically have the option of withdrawing from global politics. So what should America's role be? Haass strikes a nice balance between the excesses of neoconservatism/hegemony, the pitfalls of neo-isolation, and the shortcomings of realism. He comes closest to realism, but lacks realism's narrow-minded focus on states, power, and interest. Haass sees the US role as the regulator in an age of deregulation in international politics. The US is the only country with the resources and knowhow to provide some amount of structure in the world: leading alliances and posses, guaranteeing security in key regions like Europe or the Persian Gulf, addressing humanitarian crises, bolstering institutions and integrating states into them. Still, Haass is clear that the US must prioritize its national interests and key regions of the world. He is skeptical of the idea of the US providing security everywhere and challenging every rising power, and he's equally skeptical of the use of US power for humanitarian interventions, which he believes often causes more problems than its solves.

I found this to be a pretty good, bipartisan definition of the US role in the world from an excellent political thinker. Haass borders on realism, but he understands that the amorality of realism is politically unrealistic: the US has to care to some extent about human rights and democracy or the public will not buy into any global role. What I covered is really just from the first half of the book. the second half was a little slower; it mainly featured Haass describing different tools of foreign policy and when they are most appropriate to use. Still, if you are a scholar looking for a mainstream, quasi-realist foreign policy statement from the 1990's, this could be a useful book. Haass is a clear thinker and writer, and it's too bad he never gained higher positions in government.