Proportional to the Mischief: International Law and U.S. Grand Strategy

This book bridges the gap between international law and U.S. grand strategy. It explains the operation of the international political and legal system and the principles on which the system rests. These include the international law that defines what a state is, what sovereignty is, what rights and responsibilities inhere to all states, and the operation of the balance of power. Grand strategy is most effective when developed consistently with these principles.

The book also argues that law and the rule of law are core threads in the tapestry of American political culture. The Constitution declares it; the history of the United States makes it real. A key chapter emphasizes Woodrow Wilson's specific impact. By recognizing international law as part of our legal culture, defining it as part of the American national interest, and helping create the League of Nations (the first global institution devoted to maintaining peace), Woodrow Wilson became and remains the central figure in the history of America's encounter with the world.

Nuclear weapons also figure prominently in the book. Their unique destructive power means that U.S. grand strategy must aim to avoid nuclear war, and international law should be a helpmate in this endeavor.

Finally, the end of the Cold War ended a consensus about the U.S. role in the world, and it is imperative that we find a new consensus. The book suggests how it might be achieved.

Read a review of the book in Hopelessly Liberal.

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