SHIELDS OF THE REPUBLIC

A fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations makes a convincing argument for the importance of maintaining America's alliance system despite the targeted criticism by the current administration.

In this brief academic study, Rapp-Hooper argues persuasively that the complex alliance system instituted after the devastation of World War II has proven remarkably successful. “After two global catastrophes in just twenty-five years,” writes the author, “[survivors] were seared with reminders of why Washington should want to craft and fund security alliances,” which “were necessary to deter and defend against the Soviet Union, to reassure war-torn partners in Europe and Asia, and to prevent further conflict.” Yet the memory of this conflict is growing weak. Rapp-Hooper moves chronologically, from the Founding Fathers' arguments against "entangling alliances" (after shedding French help and influence) to the necessity of aiding France and Britain against the German blockade of the Atlantic coast in 1916. Originally, thanks to America's fortuitous geography and the caution of the founders, the U.S. had avoided alliances—until the "extraordinary emergencies" of World War II. The global spread of technology had finally rendered the American homeland vulnerable, and the Korean War demonstrated that the U.S. and its partners needed to "assemble a durable military infrastructure"—hence the birth of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The author offers astute "counterfactual" scenarios—e.g., what if America had not ringed the Soviet Union with allied bases, which allowed it to maintain the pressure of defense and deterrence during the Cold War? (Probably more wars.) Rapp-Hooper also delves into the political costs and perils of alliances, such as entrapment and free-riding, and the pros and cons of Bill Clinton's expansion of NATO. With Donald Trump's active animosity toward our traditional allies, the author cautions about a glaring blind spot: rising nonmilitary coercion from China and Russia.

A solid argument for the repurposing, reforming, and upgrading of the alliance system.