American Security and the Global War on Terror offers a sharp critique of the approaches that have shaped United States security policy in the aftermath of September 11. Jacob explains how the cold war legacy of realism and subsequent dysfunctional perspectivesneoconservatism, neoliberalism, and Trumps misnamed principled realism fed deepening Middle East conflict while leaving intact the roots of the terrorist threat. His compelling human security approach transcends ahistorical, value neutral, and reactive policies, adapting to the diverse challenges of different regions. This incisive book will stimulate much needed intellectual reflection on the future of security studies in academic and policy circles.
Micheline Ishay, Professor, University of Denver, USA; and author of The Levant Express: The Arab Uprisings, Human Rights and the Future of the Middle East
This book expertly analyzes how Washington has remained constrained in a Cold War straitjacket over the past three decades, a prisoner of outmoded state-centric thinking. However, the book also proffers suggestions on how Washington could cut these mental chains, for the betterment of their own interests as well as those of the world.
Peter Hough, Associate Professor in International Politics, Middlesex University, UK; and Author of Understanding Global Security
In American Security and the Global War on Terror, Edwin Daniel Jacob provides a tightly focused, well documented critique of Americas incoherent, self-defeating post-9/11 foreign policies and the misconceived theories of international relations that gave them birth. Jacob shows convincingly that the Global War on Terror reflects a collapse of strategic thought as well as a mistaken reliance on outmoded Cold War and nation-state concepts. Equally unsparing of neo-conservative and liberal interventionist nostrums, this imaginative study calls for a new appreciation of post-imperial social realities and ethical imperatives in the making of US foreign policy.
Richard Rubenstein, Professor, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, USA; and Author of Reasons to Kill: Why Americans Go To War (2010)
American Security and the Global War on Terror
This book delivers an interpretive framework for making sense of todays geopolitical landscape and casts new light on the impact ideology and technology have had on American foreign policy and contemporary security practices.
Edwin Daniel Jacob argues that Americas security practices in the Global War on Terror have been guided by an anachronistic Cold War logic that has subordinated strategy to tactics. Jacob shows that deep-rooted prejudices and presuppositions regarding American exceptionalism have had a disastrous impact on the policies of the United States, not only in dealing with terrorism, but also in seeking to impose American hegemony in the Middle East. Ineffectual security practices of dubious moral character, from rendition and torture to preemptive strikes and nation building to drones and assassinations, privilege exigency over ethics. Yet the result of this post-strategic approach to security, where interchangeable tactics, like these, masquerade as strategy, only increases insecurity. Jacob offers a fresh perspective on American foreign policy that links national security with human security in regional terms. This approach highlights the need for order, predictability, and stabilitythe cornerstone of political realism.
Making use of insights derived from Machiavelli, Hobbes, Marx, Weber, Schmitt, and Morgenthau, this interdisciplinary work provides an overview of American foreign policy in the twenty-first century and speaks to crucial themes in the fields of history, political science, and sociology.
Dr. Edwin Daniel Jacob is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow with the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University. Dr. Jacob has published various works on security in popular and scholastic forms. His unique collection, Rethinking Security in the Twenty-First Century was published in 2017.
Emerging Technologies, Ethics and International Affairs
Series Editors: Steven Barela, Jai C. Galliott, Avery Plaw, Katina Michael
This series examines the crucial ethical, legal and public policy questions arising from or exacerbated by the design, development and eventual adoption of new technologies across all related fields, from education and engineering to medicine and military affairs. The books revolve around two key themes:
Moral issues in research, engineering and design
Ethical, legal and political/policy issues in the use and regulation of Technology
This series encourages submission of cutting-edge research monographs and edited collections with a particular focus on forward-looking ideas concerning innovative or as yet undeveloped technologies. Whilst there is an expectation that authors will be well grounded in philosophy, law or political science, consideration will be given to future-orientated works that cross these disciplinary boundaries. The interdisciplinary nature of the series editorial team offers the best possible examination of works that address the ethical, legal and social implications of emerging technologies.
Global Environmental Governance in the Information Age
Civil Society Organizations and Digital Media
Jrme Duberry
Technology and Agency in International Relations
Edited by Marijn Hoijtink and Matthias Leese
Contemporary Technologies and the Morality of Warfare
The War of the Machines
Jean-Franois Caron
American Security and the Global War on Terror
Edwin Daniel Jacob
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Emerging-Technologies-Ethics-and-International-Affairs/book-series/ASHSER-1408
American Security and the Global War on Terror
Edwin Daniel Jacob
First published 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2020 Edwin Daniel Jacob
The right of Edwin Daniel Jacob to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 9780367438319 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781003006084 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
In memory of Edwin Joseph Jacob, my grandfather, who felt robbed if he did not learn something new each day.
