U S Peacefare

This book provides a survey of the U.S. civilian and military agencies responsible for postconflict reconstruction and peace-building around the world and how these agencies function in the interagency process. U.S. Peacefare: Organizing American Peace-Building Operations surveys the evolution of the American peace-building apparatus during the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, with an emphasis on changes since 2003, when the invasion of Iraq led the Bush Administration to adopt a Clinton-style nation-building approach they had previously vigorously opposed. U.S. Peacefare begins with a historical overview of official U.S. peace-building, then looks at the organization and interaction of the major federal agencies in the National Security Council, the State Department, and the Defense Department, as well the U.S. Institute for Peace, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Throughout, author and former Ambassador Dane Smith emphasizes how a deeper understanding of peace-building organizations and their interactions in particular cases is essential to strengthening future U.S. conflict management. The book addresses the critical overall issue of how peace-building is funded, but within the federal budget and internationally, and concludes with Smith's recommendations for reforming those organizations.

Why has the US so dramatically failed in Afghanistan since 2001? Dominant explanations have ignored the bureaucratic divisions and personality conflicts inside the US state. This book rectifies this weakness in commentary on Afghanistan by exploring the significant role of these divisions in the US’s difficulties in the country that meant the battle was virtually lost before it even began. The main objective of the book is to deepen readers understanding of the impact of bureaucratic politics on nation-building in Afghanistan, focusing primarily on the Bush Administration. It rejects the ’rational actor’ model, according to which the US functions as a coherent, monolithic agent. Instead, internal divisions within the foreign policy bureaucracy are explored, to build up a picture of the internal tensions and contradictions that bedevilled US nation-building efforts. The book also contributes to the vexed issue of whether or not the US should engage in nation-building at all, and if so under what conditions.

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.

Civilians are troops in meeting today's needs

Why do many U.S. residents, Catholics and Catholic leaders among them, too often fall short of adequately challenging the use of violence in U.S. policy? The opportunities and developments in approaches to peacemaking have been growing at a significant rate. However, violent methods continue to hold significant sway in U.S. policy and society as the commonly assumed way to "peace." Even when community organizers, policymakers, members of Catholic leadership, and academics sincerely search for alternatives to violence, they too often think about nonviolence as primarily a rule or a strategy. Catholic Social Teaching has been moving toward transcending the limits of these approaches, but it still has significant room for growth. In order to contribute to this growth and to impact U.S. policy, McCarthy draws on Jesus, Gandhi, Ghaffar Khan, and King to offer a virtue-based approach to nonviolent peacemaking with a corresponding set of core practices. This approach is also set in conversation with aspects of human rights discourse to increase its possible impact on U.S. policy. As a whole, Becoming Nonviolent Peacemakers offers an important challenge to contemporary accounts of peacemaking in the U.S.

This book investigates technology's potential for stimulating and strengthening approaches that can lead to the peaceful solution of international conflicts. It discusses the causes of war; the political and social implications of neighbourhood and international involvement, and evaluates various aid programmes. Models are applied to methods of mediation and simulating power distribution and decision making to show how modern technology can be used to promote resolution in the event of conflict.

"This book includes papers presented at the Second International Transformation (ITX2) Conference, held in Rome, Italy, at the NATO Defense College (NDC) June 21-23, 2011, as well as a summary of the conference discussions. Co-hosted by NDC, Allied Command Transformation (ACT), and the International Transformation (ITX) Chairs Network, the conference brought together academics, policymakers, and practitioners from 13 nations to discuss the topic of 'Capability Development in Support of Comprehensive Approaches : Transforming International Civil-Military Interactions'."--P. vii