Peace & Freedom: Foreign Policy for a Constitutional Republic (Digital Edition)

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By Ted Galen Carpenter

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About the Book

The end of the Cold War altered the global strategic landscape in fundamental ways, yet U.S. policymakers were slow to adjust to the new realities. While that process of adjustment was still under way, the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States created a new set of issues. Virtually all of Washington's military campaigns in the post-World War II era had been discretionary. For good or ill, America's military power had been used almost exclusively as an instrument of U.S. foreign policy in far-flung regions of the world. This time, though, the American people must repel a direct threat to their security and well-being.

In this collection of articles published since the mid-1980s, Ted Galen Carpenter addresses a wide range of foreign policy topics. Peace & Freedom outlines a coherent strategy for dealing with terrorism, but the scope of the book is much broader than that. Carpenter presents a comprehensive case for an entirely new U.S. foreign policy -one of "strategic independence."

In the pages of Peace & Freedom, Carpenter examines many important issues, including relations with such key international players as China, Russia, and the European Union and such perennial problems as the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, instability in the Balkans, and tensions in the Persian Gulf region. He is relentless in his criticism of faulty U.S. policies, such as the willingness to let the European and East Asian allies free ride on Washington's security guarantees and the stubborn folly of continuing to wage the international war on drugs.

Throughout the book, Carpenter emphasizes that U.S. foreign policy must not merely become more effective, although that is clearly an important objective. It must also protect and promote the values that have made America a great country. In short, America's foreign policy must be appropriate for a constitutional republic based on the principles of limited government and individual liberty.

Press Release: Peace & Freedom

About the Author

Ted Galen Carpenter is vice president for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute.

Number of Pages: 
294

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What Others Have Said
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"Mr. Carpenter's arguments expose the confusion in Washington today."
-Financial Times

"Peace & Freedom is a vital survival guide for the American people in a deadly new world. Ted Galen Carpenter has produced a treasury of wisdom, realism, and common sense unique amid the obsolete bombast of aging cold warriors and do-gooders who have dominated what passes for foreign policy analysis in Washington for far too long. Carpenter's analyses should be must reading for policymakers."
-Martin Sieff, Managing Editor, United Press International

"Peace & Freedom is a powerful and timely appeal for new U.S. foreign and defense policies that would severely cut back obsolete U.S. security commitments and knee-jerk military interventions while expanding economic engagement and diplomatic mediation of global conflicts. This is a trenchant, well-argued, readable antidote to the dangerous, muscle-flexing triumphalism that has dominated the debate in Washington."
-Selig S. Harrison, Director, Asia Program, Center for International Policy

"Peace & Freedom once again shows why Ted Galen Carpenter has become one of America's most important voices on foreign policy issues. His writings consistently display a combination of historical perspective, strategic insight, and plain sense that all too few analysts today can match."
-Alan Tonelson, Research Fellow, U.S. Business and Industry Council Educational Foundation

"Carpenter argues in this fascinating book that the United States is bound to get into serious trouble if it does not abandon its policy of 'promiscuous global interventionism.' The time has come, he convincingly argues, for America to recognize that the Cold War is over and to adopt a foreign policy that reduces its profile abroad and protects its liberties at home."
-John J. Mearsheimer, R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago

"This collection of insightful writings provides background on what 'strategic independence' means for the United States as a superpower that bears many heavy burdens. It is essential reading for Americans who are coping with the post-September 11, 2001, challenges to the U.S. role in world affairs."
-Edward A. Olsen, Professor of National Security Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School

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