Alliance curse : how America lost the Third World /

In this engaging and provocative book, Root (George Mason Univ.) joins authors such as Chalmers Johnson and Andrew Bacevich to indict US foreign policy for its shortsightedness, discontinuities, and confused motivations. While the book seeks to explore two "paradoxes" (why so many people who hate the US want to live here, and why, in spite of its lofty ideals and inspirations, the US sometimes supports oppressive and corrupt regimes in the Third World), it clearly concentrates on the latter. Referring to a "cold war mentality" that has clouded foreign policy making in the country, and a "vision gap" which exacerbates that tendency, he examines five cases (China, Philippines, Vietnam, Iran, and South Asia) where the US has been "cursed" by poor judgment in choosing alliance partners. Similarly, Root convincingly demonstrates how US foreign aid has routinely been disbursed in pursuit of short-term (often dubious) advantages that, at times, led to severe long-term costs for the recipients as well as the donor. The author offers some concrete suggestions to improve the US relationship with Third World countries based on promoting gradual development and reform that would ultimately also benefit US economic and security interests. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, research, and professional collections. A. Ahmad Black Hills State University

With friends like the dictators with which it regularly sides, the United States doesn't need enemies, argues this wide-ranging critique of American foreign policy. Root (Capital & Collusion) posits that, in the search for securing access to natural resources and investment opportunities in developing countries, American leaders find it cheaper and more expedient to prop up corrupt autocrats than deal with democracies. The consequences are dire, he contends: American aid lets dictatorships consolidate power while ignoring the needs of their people; when they inevitably fall, America often gets dragged into futile military interventions that leave it disgraced and unpopular. Root elaborates these themes in case studies of U.S. relations with South Vietnam, the Philippines, Iran, Iraq and other countries; his surveys proffer intriguing insights into the failings of America's allies and the surprising successes of enemies like Communist China and Islamic Iran. Root's discussions, citing everything from game theory to the marginal utility of supporting the Vietcong, can be dry and excessively technical, which is a shame, because his prescriptions for American foreign policy--less focus on military security, more on economic development and social reform--are well-grounded and compelling. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved