Steve A. Yetiv to MESH:

My book cautions against assuming that states use single, grand strategies and suggests that they may not use any grand strategy at all. In this sense, they do not pursue and employ consistent and cohesive policies over time in trying to promote their interests in regions of the world. The book puts forth a different conception of how the United States behaved in the Gulf, which I call “reactive engagement,” shaped by behavior that often reflects a lack of careful preparation, inconsistency (even in key beliefs), and reactivity. It may be that while all great powers have an appetite for grand ideas, they end up with a mouthful of reality.

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Product Description

Great powers and grand strategies. It is easy to assume that the most powerful nations pursue and employ consistent, cohesive, and decisive policies in trying to promote their interests in regions of the world. Popular theory emphasizes two such grand strategies that great powers may pursue: balance of power policy or hegemonic domination. But, as Steve A. Yetiv contends, things may not always be that cut and dried.

Analyzing the evolution of the United States' foreign policy in the Persian Gulf from 1972 to 2005, Yetiv offers a provocative and panoramic view of American strategies in a region critical to the functioning of the entire global economy. Ten cases -- from the policies of the Nixon administration to George W. Bush's war in Iraq -- reveal shifting, improvised, and reactive policies that were responses to unanticipated and unpredictable events and threats. In fact, the distinguishing feature of the U.S. experience in the Gulf has been the absence of grand strategy.

Yetiv introduces the concept of "reactive engagement" as an alternative approach to understanding the behavior of great powers in unstable regions. At a time when the effects of U.S. foreign policy are rippling across the globe, The Absence of Grand Strategy offers key insight into the nature and evolution of American foreign policy in the Gulf.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1158839 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 264 pages

Review

"This book makes an original contribution and is a welcome relief from much of the polemical writing on the subject of American foreign policy. The scholarship is excellent. It will be essential reading for those in securities studies and international relations." -- Patrick James, Director, Center for International Studies, University of Southern California

"It should be required reading for all graduate students contemplating a doctoral thesis in international relations theory." -- David E. Long, Middle East Journal

"Theoretically guided but not heavily theoretical, Yetiv's book is well conceived andclearly presented... Highly recommended." -- Choice

About the Author

Steve A. Yetiv is a professor of political science at Old Dominion University and author of Explaining Foreign Policy: U.S. Decision-Making and the Persian Gulf War, also published by Johns Hopkins.