Bruce D. Berkowitz "American Security: Dilemmas for a Modern Democracy."
This sane, sensible book makes a valuable contribution to the current debate on American defense policy. Berkowitz, with his CIA background, is hardly tempted to call for major revision in the means and goals of U.S. security policy. He is skilled at presenting the limits, possibilities, pressures of politics, and the contradictions of particular policies. Economics, politics, and technology, he asserts, account for the complexity of security policy.
In this wide-ranging look at American security policy, Berkowitz, a political scientist, analyzes how the qualities we value mostdemocratic rule, a free-market economy, technological progresscomplicate and limit the choices we face in determining that policy. He warns that we should not expect the defense budget to fall much in the next few years, contending that economic savings in defense are impossible without major changes in U.S. foreign policy. One of the changes he discusses is in relation to our commitment in the Persian Gulf.
The threat of a regional power, such as Iran, cutting off oil from the Gulf is, in Berkowitz's opinion, a "mini-issue." He believes that there is little the U.S. could do to prevent the Soviets from moving into the area, and that by committing ourselves to defend the region the U.S. is setting itself up for a crisis. He also discusses prospects for deterrence and arms control, and provides a thorough review of the NATO/Warsaw Pact realities in Western Europe.
Yale University Press. Paperback, 1988.
New book. Remainder mark. Bookstore’s price on the first page. Minor shelf wear from rubbing. See pictures.