Nikolas K. Gvosdev – författare

National security is pervasive in government and society, but there is little scholarly attention devoted to understanding the context, institutions, and processes the U.S. government uses to promote the general welfare. The Oxford Handbook of U.S. National Security aims to fill this gap. Coming from academia and the national security community, its contributors analyze key institutions and processes that promote the peace and prosperity of the United States and, by extension, its allies and other partners. By examining contemporary challenges to U.S. national security, contributors consider ways to advance national interests.The United States is entering uncharted waters. The assumptions and verities of the Washington consensus and the early post-Cold War have broken down. After 15 years of war and the inability of two presidents to set a new long-term U.S. foreign policy approach in place, the uncertainties of the Trump administration symbolize the questioning of assumptions that is now going on as Americans work to re-define their place in the world. This handbook serves as a "how to" guide for students and practitioners to understand the key issues and roadblocks confronting those working to improve national security.The first section establishes the scope of national security highlighting the important debates to bridge the practitioner and scholarly approaches to national security. The second section outlines the major national security actors in the U.S. government, describes the legislative authorities and appropriations available to each institution, and considers the organizational essence of each actor to explain behavior during policy discussions. It also examines the tools of national security such as diplomacy, arms control, and economic statecraft. The third section focuses on underlying strategic approaches to national security addressing deterrence, nuclear and cyber issues, and multilateral approaches to foreign policy. The final section surveys the landscape of contemporary national security challenges. This is a critical resource for anyone trying to understand the complex mechanisms and institutions that govern U.S. national security.

More than a decade has passed since path-breaking policies aimed at liberalizing post-Soviet society were first introduced in Russia. Today, these promises of freedom, equality, and justice remain largely unfulfilled and Russia's political system continues to exhibit signs of the deep-rooted problems that may well retard, if not completely derail, any possibility of future reform. Against this stark background, Civil Society and the Search for Justice in Russia explores the various dimensions of Russia's civil society: the meaning of, and search for, justice; the role of the Orthodox church as a principal unifier in civil society; the need for new freedoms for women and ethnic minorities; and the role of mass education and the free press in inculcating and articulating new civic values. Expertly blending the historical with the theoretical, the recent with the empirical this work offers new insight and analysis into the ability of a nascent Russian civil society to engage effectively with the twenty-first century Russian state to ensure social, religious, and political justice.

Since its inception, The National Interest, the leading realist journal of international affairs, has devoted a good deal of attention to the relationship between Moscow and Washington, from the dying days of the Cold War to the prospect of true Russian-American partnership following 9/11. This work brings together the reflections and ruminations of statesmen, policymakers, and academics on developments and forecasts about one of the world's leading geo political actors. This edited volume is the third in a series of readers co-produced by The National Interest and Transaction Publishers. Each brings together in one place prescient analysis and provocative assessments, this case, about Russia, published in the last decade.For some of the contributors, Russia is to be viewed with suspicion, a state whose current weakness has only retarded, not extinguished, its hegemonic ambitions to dominate Eurasia. For others, Russia is a strategic partner and prospective ally. This volume tackles the hard questions. Readers have the opportunity to listen in on a number of the great debates surrounding Russia policy. Is Russia finished as a great power, or will its influence grow in the coming years? Can a true partnership be forged between Washington and Moscow based on common interests and values? To what extent can Russia be integrated into the institutions of the Euro-Atlantic community? Has American policy aided or harmed the course of market reforms and democratization over the past decade? Is the "war on terrorism" a sufficient foundation for a new U.S.-Russia relationship? How can conflicting interests, whether in Iran, Iraq, or North Korea, be dealt with?This book presents a fascinating and multifaceted look at a country that is likely to remain a major factor in U.S. foreign policy in the twenty-first century. The list of distinguished contributors to this volume includes Zbigniew Brzezinski, William Odom, Stephen Sestanovich, Robert Legvold, Martin Malia, Alexey Pushkov, and Dimitri K. Simes.

This volume establishes Amitai Etzioni's communitarian approach to international relations as a distinct school of American foreign policy thought. Nikolas K. Gvosdev systematically evaluates Etzioni's ideas, tracing their origins during the Cold War and their relevance to current challenges in Asia and the Middle East, and considering their strengths and weaknesses.Etzioni agrees with liberal internationalists who believe that traditional notions of state sovereignty are eroding and that a new set of global norms is required. However, he argues against the imposition of Western policies on the rest of the world, which he sees as a recipe for conflict which the United States cannot afford. He warns against the post-Cold War triumphalism, arguing that it undercuts efforts to find necessary common ground with both Russia and China. An enduring and stable global architecture cannot be maintained unless it appeals to the interests of a broad community of nations. The trust that is needed for forming closer associations between nations and to have a productive dialogue on human rights can only come about through the voluntary coordination of states forced to combat an increasing array of transnational threats.

This foreign policy analysis textbook is written especially for students studying to become national security professionals. It translates academic knowledge about the complex influences on American foreign policymaking into an intuitive, cohesive, and practical set of analytic tools. The focus here is not theory for the sake of theory, but rather to translate theory into practice. Classic paradigms are adapted to fit the changing realities of the contemporary national security environment. For example, the growing centrality of the White House is seen in the 'palace politics' of the president's inner circle, and the growth of the national security apparatus introduces new dimensions to organizational processes and subordinate levels of bureaucratic politics. Real-world case studies are used throughout to allow students to apply theory. These comprise recent events that draw impartially across partisan lines and encompass a variety of diplomatic, military, and economic and trade issues.

The collapse of communism marked the close of an era of world history. What took place in the Soviet Union between 1917 and 1991, in the eyes of its proponents, constituted a "great experiment" in the application of new modes of organization to social life, the largest such experiment in history. The Strange Death of Soviet Communism, which first appeared as a special issue of The National Interest, brings together leading scholars of Soviet history, who show why the experiment failed and how it has destroyed the laboratory of socialist utopias.Francis Fukuyama considers the role of long-term social and intellectual modernization while Vladimir Kontorovich examines the related factor of economic stagnation. Myron Rush then analyzes the accidental and precedent-breaking accession and leadership of Gorbachev. Charles Fairbanks looks at the more general factors of change and rigidity within communist political culture. Chapters by Peter Reddaway and Stephen Sestanovich conclude this section by assessing respectively the role of internal pressure from Soviet citizens and external pressure from the West. The next chapters deal with why the West was surprised by the communist collapse. This involves a critique of Western Sovietology both for its scholarly failures and its ideological prejudices. Here, Peter Rutland and William Odom deal with social science interpretations of the Soviet Union while Robert Conquest and Richard Pipes reflect on historians' readings of Soviet history. Martin Malia then offers a comparative assessment of both. In the third section Irving Kristol and Nathan Glazer discuss communism in relation to the intellectuals in the West.Although the authors are united in their anti-communist stance, the volume is diverse in its perspectives and assessments of Soviet communism. Taken together, these contributions show that the debate on the legacy of communism and a subsequent rethinking of modern history is just beginning. The Strange Death of Soviet Communism will be of interest to historians, political scientists, Slavic studies specialists, and sociologists.

The collapse of communism marked the close of an era of world history. What took place in the Soviet Union between 1917 and 1991, in the eyes of its proponents, constituted a "great experiment" in the application of new modes of organization to social life, the largest such experiment in history. The Strange Death of Soviet Communism, which first appeared as a special issue of The National Interest, brings together leading scholars of Soviet history, who show why the experiment failed and how it has destroyed the laboratory of socialist utopias.Francis Fukuyama considers the role of long-term social and intellectual modernization while Vladimir Kontorovich examines the related factor of economic stagnation. Myron Rush then analyzes the accidental and precedent-breaking accession and leadership of Gorbachev. Charles Fairbanks looks at the more general factors of change and rigidity within communist political culture. Chapters by Peter Reddaway and Stephen Sestanovich conclude this section by assessing respectively the role of internal pressure from Soviet citizens and external pressure from the West. The next chapters deal with why the West was surprised by the communist collapse. This involves a critique of Western Sovietology both for its scholarly failures and its ideological prejudices. Here, Peter Rutland and William Odom deal with social science interpretations of the Soviet Union while Robert Conquest and Richard Pipes reflect on historians' readings of Soviet history. Martin Malia then offers a comparative assessment of both. In the third section Irving Kristol and Nathan Glazer discuss communism in relation to the intellectuals in the West.Although the authors are united in their anti-communist stance, the volume is diverse in its perspectives and assessments of Soviet communism. Taken together, these contributions show that the debate on the legacy of communism and a subsequent rethinking of modern history is just beginning. The Strange Death of Soviet Communism will be of interest to historians, political scientists, Slavic studies specialists, and sociologists.

This volume establishes Amitai Etzioni's communitarian approach to international relations as a distinct school of American foreign policy thought. Nikolas K. Gvosdev systematically evaluates Etzioni's ideas, tracing their origins during the Cold War and their relevance to current challenges in Asia and the Middle East, and considering their strengths and weaknesses.Etzioni agrees with liberal internationalists who believe that traditional notions of state sovereignty are eroding and that a new set of global norms is required. However, he argues against the imposition of Western policies on the rest of the world, which he sees as a recipe for conflict which the United States cannot afford. He warns against the post-Cold War triumphalism, arguing that it undercuts efforts to find necessary common ground with both Russia and China. An enduring and stable global architecture cannot be maintained unless it appeals to the interests of a broad community of nations. The trust that is needed for forming closer associations between nations and to have a productive dialogue on human rights can only come about through the voluntary coordination of states forced to combat an increasing array of transnational threats.

In a truly contemporary analysis of Moscow's relations with its neighbors and other strategic international actors, Gvosdev and Marsh use a comprehensive vectors approach, dividing the world into eight geographic zones. Each vector chapter looks at the dynamics of key bilateral relationships while highlighting major topical issues—oil and energy, defense policy, economic policy, the role of international institutions, and the impact of major interest groups or influencers—demonstrating that Russia formulates multiple, sometimes contrasting, foreign policies. Providing rich historical context as well as exposure to the scholarly literature, the authors offer an incisive look at how and why Russia partners with some states while it counter-balances others.

Safe from the battlefields of Europe and Asia, the United States led the post - World War II global economic recovery through international assistance and foreign direct investment. With an ardent decolonization agenda and a postwar legitimacy, the United States attempted to construct a world characterized by cooperation. When American optimism clashed with Soviet expansionism, the United States started on a path to global hegemony. In US Foreign Policy and Defense Strategy, the authors analyze the strategic underpinnings of hegemony, assess the national security establishment that sustains dominance, consider the impact on civil-military relations, and explore the intertwining relationships between foreign policy, defense strategy, and commercial activities. Eschewing conventional analyses, the volume not only identifies drivers and continuities in foreign policy, but it also examines how the legacy of the last sixty-five years will influence future national security policy that will be characterized by US leadership in an increasingly competitive world.From civil-military relations to finance, and from competing visions of how America should make war to its philosophy of securing peace through reconstruction and reconciliation, US Foreign Policy and Defense Strategy offers unique insights into the links between military and commercial power as it charts the rise of a historical rarity: the incidental superpower. This accessibly written book is suitable for students and general readers as well as scholars.

Safe from the battlefields of Europe and Asia, the United States led the post - World War II global economic recovery through international assistance and foreign direct investment. With an ardent decolonization agenda and a postwar legitimacy, the United States attempted to construct a world characterized by cooperation. When American optimism clashed with Soviet expansionism, the United States started on a path to global hegemony. In US Foreign Policy and Defense Strategy, the authors analyze the strategic underpinnings of hegemony, assess the national security establishment that sustains dominance, consider the impact on civil-military relations, and explore the intertwining relationships between foreign policy, defense strategy, and commercial activities. Eschewing conventional analyses, the volume not only identifies drivers and continuities in foreign policy, but it also examines how the legacy of the last sixty-five years will influence future national security policy that will be characterized by US leadership in an increasingly competitive world.From civil-military relations to finance, and from competing visions of how America should make war to its philosophy of securing peace through reconstruction and reconciliation, US Foreign Policy and Defense Strategy offers unique insights into the links between military and commercial power as it charts the rise of a historical rarity: the incidental superpower. This accessibly written book is suitable for students and general readers as well as scholars.

Since its inception, The National Interest, the leading realist journal of international affairs, has devoted a good deal of attention to the relationship between Moscow and Washington, from the dying days of the Cold War to the prospect of true Russian-American partnership following 9/11. This work brings together the reflections and ruminations of statesmen, policymakers, and academics on developments and forecasts about one of the world's leading geo political actors. This edited volume is the third in a series of readers co-produced by The National Interest and Transaction Publishers. Each brings together in one place prescient analysis and provocative assessments, this case, about Russia, published in the last decade.For some of the contributors, Russia is to be viewed with suspicion, a state whose current weakness has only retarded, not extinguished, its hegemonic ambitions to dominate Eurasia. For others, Russia is a strategic partner and prospective ally. This volume tackles the hard questions. Readers have the opportunity to listen in on a number of the great debates surrounding Russia policy. Is Russia finished as a great power, or will its influence grow in the coming years? Can a true partnership be forged between Washington and Moscow based on common interests and values? To what extent can Russia be integrated into the institutions of the Euro-Atlantic community? Has American policy aided or harmed the course of market reforms and democratization over the past decade? Is the "war on terrorism" a sufficient foundation for a new U.S.-Russia relationship? How can conflicting interests, whether in Iran, Iraq, or North Korea, be dealt with?This book presents a fascinating and multifaceted look at a country that is likely to remain a major factor in U.S. foreign policy in the twenty-first century. The list of distinguished contributors to this volume includes Zbigniew Brzezinski, William Odom, Stephen Sestanovich, Robert Legvold, Martin Malia, Alexey Pushkov, and Dimitri K. Simes.