The Dispensable Nation; American Foreign Policy in Retreat

New York: Doubleday, 2013. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Kaveh Sardari (Author photograph) and Stefano Rell. [16], 300, [4] pages. Map. Notes. Index. Previous owner's address label removed from fep. Contents include Introduction; Prologue: "A Week in September"; Afghanistan: The Good War Gone Bad; Afghanistan: Reconciliation?; Who Lost Pakistan?; Iran: Between War and Containment; Iraq; The Signal Democracy; The Fading Promise of the Arab Spring; The Gathering Storm; The China Challenge, and Conclusion: America, The Pivotal Nation. Vali Reza Nasr (born 20 December 1960) is an Iranian-American academic and author, specializing in the Middle East and the Islamic world. He is Majid Khaddouri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C. He served as the eighth dean of the school from 2012 to 2019. Nasr is also a Non-Resident Fellow in South Asia at Atlantic Council and is described by The Economist as "a leading world authority on Shia Islam". He taught at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University, University of San Diego, and the Naval Postgraduate School. Drawing from his decades of scholarship and specifically from his two-year tenure as senior adviser to Richard Holbrooke, the president's special adviser to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Nasr accuses the Obama White House of lacking any strategic vision for the Middle East and abandoning diplomacy and economic engagement in favor of shortsighted, tactical maneuvers driven by domestic politics and opinion polls. An informed, smoothly argued brief that will surely rattle windows at the White House. In a brilliant and revealing book destined to drive debate about the future of American power, Vali Nasr questions America's dangerous choice to engage less and matter less in the world. Vali Nasr, author of the groundbreaking The Shia Revival, worked closely with Hillary Clinton at the State Department on Afghan and Pakistani affairs. In The Dispensable Nation, he takes us behind the scenes to show how Secretary Clinton and her ally, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, were thwarted in their efforts to guide an ambitious policy in South Asia and the Middle East. Instead, four years of presidential leadership and billions of dollars of U.S. spending failed to advance democracy and development, producing mainly rage at the United States for its perceived indifference to the fate of the region. After taking office in 2009, the Obama administration had an opportunity to fundamentally reshape American foreign policy, Nasr argues, but its fear of political backlash and the specter of terrorism drove it to pursue the same questionable strategies as its predecessor. Meanwhile, the true economic threats to U.S. power, China and Russia, were quietly expanding their influence in places where America has long held sway. Nasr makes a compelling case that behind specific flawed decisions lurked a desire by the White House to pivot away from the complex problems of the Muslim world. Drawing on his unrivaled expertise in Middle East affairs and firsthand experience in diplomacy, Nasr demonstrates why turning our backs is dangerous and, what's more, sells short American power. The United States has secured stability, promoted prosperity, and built democracy in region after region since the end of the Second World War, he reminds us, and The Dispensable Nation offers a striking vision of what it can achieve when it reclaims its bold leadership in the world.