The Illusion of Control: Force and Foreign Policy in the 21st Century

[Brown] observes that America's "muscular diplomacy" is derived from three key developments in the post-Cold War world. First, the international system has shifted from a bipolar to a "polyarchic" system in which US hegemony is challenged by a wide variety of both state and non-state actors. Second, in response to the increasing scope and diverse nature of potential threats to the US in today's "polyarchic" world, the author concludes that government officials are increasingly inclined to threaten the use of force in order to maintain control. Finally, given the major technological developments associated with the revolution in military affairs, or "transformation" as it is currently referred to, contemporary policy-makers function under the illusion, in Brown's view, that military force can bring an "unprecedented degree of controllability" to the conduct of war. Brown concludes, however, that these developments and the policies which they have evoked are unwarranted and can lead to unwise decision making. Brown also revisits "just war" theory in the context of today's interventionism. He recites the key elements of classic just war theory and suggests several areas which pose significant challenges to those US policy-makers supporting intervention. "Proportionality," for example, is an essential ingredient to a just war according to the classic formula. In today's world, given the destructiveness of modern weapons, Brown suggests that it is exceedingly difficult for policy-makers and military professionals to constrain operations to be proportional against often ill-defined threats. Overkill is a likely outcome in many cases--and one which often involves innocent noncombatants. Despite the progress made in developing precision weapons, collateral damage is still commonplace in battles taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan. Noncombatant immunity, a key element to just war theory, remains illusory even in this high tech age, according to Brown. War as a "last resort" is also illusory in his view. Very tight time constraints, or the perception of such, weigh against delaying military action, particularly when weapons can provide quick military solutions. In short, historical considerations of just war simply don't fit modern circumstances. Brown proposes that we revisit just war concepts and determine whether and how they can be changed to reflect modern circumstances.