Gideon Rose

Why We Always Fight the Last Battle

How Wars End

IN 1991 THE UNITED STATES trounced the Iraqi army in battle only to stumble blindly into postwar turmoil. Then in 2003 the United States did it again. How could this happen? How could the strongest power in modern history fight two wars against the same opponent in just over a decade, win lightning victories both times, and yet still be woefully unprepared for the aftermath? Because Americans always forget the political aspects of war. Time and again, argues Gideon Rose in this penetrating look at American wars over the last century, our leaders have focused more on beating up the enemy than on creating a stable postwar environment. What happened in Iraq was only the most prominent example of this phenomenon, not an exception to the rule. Woodrow Wilson fought a war to make the world safe for democracy but never asked himself what democracy actually meant and then dithered as Germany slipped into chaos. Franklin Roosevelt resolved not to repeat Wilson’s mistakes but never considered what would happen to his own elaborate postwar arrangements should America’s wartime marriage of convenience with Stalin break up after the shooting stopped. The Truman administration casually established voluntary prisoner repatriation as a key American war aim in Korea without exploring whether it would block an armistice—which it did for almost a year and a half. The Kennedy and Johnson administrations dug themselves deeper and deeper into Vietnam without any plans for how to get out, making it impossible for Nixon and Ford to escape unscathed. And the list goes on. Drawing on vast research, including extensive interviews with participants in recent wars, Rose re-creates the choices that presidents and their advisers have confronted during the final stages of each major conflict from World War I through Iraq. He puts readers in the room with U.S. officials as they make decisions that affect millions of lives and shape the modern world—seeing what they saw, hearing what they heard, feeling what they felt. American leaders, Rose argues, have repeatedly ignored the need for careful postwar planning. But they can and must do a better job next time around—making the creation of a stable and sustainable local political outcome the goal of all wartime plans, rather than an afterthought to be dealt with once the "real" military work is over.

PRAISE FOR BREXIT AND BEYOND “Yes, Brexit was a revolt against recent globalization and liberal cosmopolitanism. But it was also a product of the United Kingdom’s long and ambivalent relationship to Europe. To understand why it happened, you have to read the Foreign Affairs collection Brexit and Beyond. It offers both first-rate, up-to-the-minute analysis by leading experts and a historical context and perspective that all the media frenzy on this summer’s events can’t provide.” —Mark Blyth, Eastman Professor of Political Economy, Brown University “The essential guide to a transformative event.” —Anand Menon, Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs, King’s College London “An essential collection of articles on where Brexit came from, how it happened, and how it will change Europe forever.” —Henry Farrell, Associate Professor of International Affairs, George Washington University

Brexit and Beyond

After Chairman Mao's death in 1976, China began a series of reforms that eventually got its economy humming and its society buzzing. These led to a gradual process of liberalization during the 1980s that culminated in a series of protests at Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989. Fearing for its own survival, the communist regime cracked down, deciding to suppress the protests and keep power at all costs. A decade later, we at "Foreign Affairs" were able to publish, for the first time, a trove of secret documents showing why China's leaders opted for violence at Tiananmen Square that fateful June. Now, 25 years after the protests, we are delighted to bring you "Tiananmen and After," which includes those documents along with expert commentary on what happened back in June 1989, what it meant, and how China has-and hasn't-changed since then. The arguments presented span the ideological spectrum, and the authors include a range of leading experts from several disciplines and countries, including Elizabeth Economy, Evan Feigenbaum, Yasheng Huang, Robert Kaplan, Eric Li, Damien Ma, Andrew Nathan, Lynette Ong, Lucian Pye, John Thornton, Cui Tiankai, and more.

Tiananmen and After

After Chairman Mao’s death in 1976, China began a series of reforms that eventually got its economy humming and its society buzzing. These led to a gradual process of liberalization during the 1980s that culminated in a series of protests at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989. Fearing for its own survival, the communist regime cracked down, deciding to suppress the protests and keep power at all costs. A decade later, we at Foreign Affairs were able to publish, for the first time, a trove of secret documents showing why China’s leaders opted for violence at Tiananmen Square that fateful June. Now, 25 years after the protests, we are delighted to bring you Tiananmen and After, which includes those documents along with expert commentary on what happened back in June 1989, what it meant, and how China has—and hasn’t—changed since then. The arguments presented span the ideological spectrum, and the authors include a range of leading experts from several disciplines and countries, including Elizabeth Economy, Evan Feigenbaum, Yasheng Huang, Robert Kaplan, Eric Li, Damien Ma, Andrew Nathan, Lynette Ong, Lucian Pye, John Thornton, Cui Tiankai, and more.

James F. Hoge, Jr.

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, one question has been on the mind of every American: "How did this happen?" This book seeks to answer this question in all its critical aspects: the motives and actions of the terrorists, the status of our military, the context of the Middle East, airport security, diplomatic pressures. It also provides readers with an authoritative but accessible account of the issues that led to the present crisis--not as a symposium of opinion, but as a series of narratives on different aspects of the situation, providing perspective, information, and sound interpretation.

How Did This Happen? Terrorism And The New War

James F. Hoge

Pundits often treat foreign policy decision making as a simple matter of morality or politics, and academics often ignore it entirely, viewing policy as driven not by individual officials but by broad structural forces. Foreign policy professionals, in contrast, generally see the subject as an arena of constrained choice. They try to figure out just how much freedom of action they actually have in a particular situation, and debate how best to use that freedom to advance the national interest. The hallmark of the serious professional's approach to foreign policy is not certainty but doubt; they live in a world with no easy answers, only an endless series of unpleasant tradeoffs. This collection is an introduction to that world. Originally published in Foreign Affairs, the essays gathered here offer a broad array of opinions on pressing topics ranging from handling rogue states to humanitarian intervention, from designing trade policy to dealing with the UN to managing relations with China. The authors all know what they are talking about and have the best interests of the country and the world at heart, and yet they come at the issues from different perspectives and often passionately disagree with each other's conclusions and recommendations. They all score at least some points and must be taken seriously, which only sharpens the reader's dilemma in trying to decide what should be done in each case. An excellent and accessible guide to foreign policy as it actually is, rather than the two-dimensional version so often on display in public debate.

Cases and Choices

American Foreign Policy

Between our classic print magazine and our award-winning website, we’ve published more than 500 articles this year—on everything from Vladimir Putin’s Russia to the euro crisis to how to deal with the self-proclaimed Islamic State. We’re proud of all our content, but every year there are a few pieces that really stand out from the pack. So we’ve compiled some of our favorites into this anthology for handy reference. Our diverse offerings include Kenan Malik’s “The Failure of Multiculturalism,” which argues that Europe’s integration policies have entrenched divisions rather than erased them, and Ira Trivedi’s “When a Bride-to-Be Is a Bride to Buy,” an eye-opening piece on India’s bride shortage and how it has fueled the trafficking of young women. From Greece’s financial problems to the Islamic State’s statecraft, the decline of international studies in the American academy to the stagnation of reforms in China, we’ve covered it all. We hope you enjoy the collection and come back for more in 2016!

Gideon Rose

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