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Outlier States

American Strategies to Change, Contain, or Engage Regimes

Robert S. Litwak

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Outlier States examines the role of the United States as an enforcer against the development of nuclear weapons in the international community.

In the Bush era Iran and North Korea were branded "rogue" states for their flouting of international norms, and changing their regimes was the administration’s goal. The Obama administration has chosen instead to call the countries nuclear "outliers" and has proposed means other than regime change to bring them back into "the community of nations." Outlier States, the successor to Litwak’s influential Regime Change: U.S. Strategy through the Prism of 9...

Outlier States examines the role of the United States as an enforcer against the development of nuclear weapons in the international community.

In the Bush era Iran and North Korea were branded "rogue" states for their flouting of international norms, and changing their regimes was the administration’s goal. The Obama administration has chosen instead to call the countries nuclear "outliers" and has proposed means other than regime change to bring them back into "the community of nations." Outlier States, the successor to Litwak’s influential Regime Change: U.S. Strategy through the Prism of 9/11 (2007), explores this significant policy adjustment and raises questions about its feasibility and its possible consequences.

Do international norms apply only to states’ external behavior, as it might relate, for example, to nuclear proliferation and terrorism, or do they matter no less for states’ internal behavior, as it might affect a population’s human rights? What is the appropriate role for the United States in the process of reintegration? America’s military power remains unmatched, but can the nation any longer shape singlehandedly an increasingly multi-polar international system? What do the precedents set in Iraq and Libya teach us about how current outliers can be integrated into the international community? And perhaps most important, how should the United States respond if outlier regimes eschew integration as a threat to their survival and continue to augment their nuclear capabilities?

Reviews

Reviews

A fine and much recommended read for international studies collections.

A very insightful book... Litwak is to be congratulated for his impressive contribution.

Nothing has bedeviled U.S. foreign policy more since the end of the Cold War than how to deal with a collection of despotic, hostile, and dangerous middle-tier states, such as Iran and North Korea. In this lucid and thoughtful book, Litwak compares the performances of the George W. Bush and Obama administrations in handling such foes.

Logically organized, conceptually clear, analytically robust and practically useful... Outlier States is destined to become the reference of choice for U.S. officials seeking a clear exposition of the policy dilemmas and options for bringing outlier states in from the cold.

This is an authoritative, substantive, and well-written account that will be essential reading for students, scholars, and the attentive public who wish to understand the problems of outlier states and the policy changes they represent.

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About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
256
ISBN
9781421408125
Table of Contents

Abbreviations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Outlier States and International Society
Policy Shifts in Washington
Power Shifts in the International System
The Anarchical Society Revisited
2. Pathways

Abbreviations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Outlier States and International Society
Policy Shifts in Washington
Power Shifts in the International System
The Anarchical Society Revisited
2. Pathways into the "Community of Nations"
The Assimilation of a Defeated Great Power
The Evolution of Revolutionary States
Regime Change from Without
Regime Change from Within
Assessment and Implications
3. Strategies to Contain, Engage, or Change
Sources of Outlier Conduct
Iraq: "Rogue" Rollback
Libya: U.S.-Assisted Regime Change
Assessment and Implications
4. Nuclear Outliers
Proliferation Dynamics and U.S. Policy
North Korea: A Failed State with Nuclear Weapons
Iran: A Nation or a Cause?
Living with Nuclear Outliers
Conclusion
Appendix: Excerpts from National Security Strategy Documents of September 2002 and May 2010
Notes
Index

Author Bio
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Robert S. Litwak

Robert S. Litwak is director of the Division of International Security Studies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He formerly served as director for nonproliferation on the National Security Council staff.