The Crisis of Grand Strategy

One of the most cherished myths of the Atlantic powers is that debates in the public sphere - between political parties, pundits and interest groups - successfully address the overall strategic aims of domestic or foreign policy. On this view, Bush Republicanism is one set of strategic ideas, and Obama's Democratic strategy is something entirely different. Peter Gowan argues that this is profoundly misguided, and rests upon a failure to identify influential elite debates that could assure the ascendancy, at home and abroad, of various Atlantic ruling classes-what he describes as debates about grand 'strategy'. "The Crisis of Grand Strategy" traces some of the major debates within the elites of the Atlantic world over the last century and a half. In doing so, Gowan unearths thinkers who have had little or no impact on open public controversy or political movements, but who have profoundly influenced - sometimes successfully, sometimes not - the entire strategic direction of powerful states.