Embattled Garrisons: Comparative Base Politics and American Globalism - Hardcover

Calder, Kent E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691131430 ISBN 13: 9780691131436

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2008

Synopsis

The overseas basing of troops has been a central pillar of American military strategy since World War II--and a controversial one. Are these bases truly essential to protecting the United States at home and securing its interests abroad--for example in the Middle East-or do they needlessly provoke anti-Americanism and entangle us in the domestic woes of host countries? Embattled Garrisons takes up this question and examines the strategic, political, and social forces that will determine the future of American overseas basing in key regions around the world.

Kent Calder traces the history of overseas bases from their beginnings in World War II through the cold war to the present day, comparing the different challenges the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union have confronted. Providing the broad historical and comparative context needed to understand what is at stake in overseas basing, Calder gives detailed case studies of American bases in Japan, Italy, Turkey, the Philippines, Spain, South Korea, the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He highlights the vulnerability of American bases to political shifts in their host nations--in emerging democracies especially--but finds that an American presence can generally be tolerated when identified with political liberation rather than imperial succession.

Embattled Garrisons shows how the origins of basing relationships crucially shape long-term prospects for success, and it offers a means to assess America's prospects for a sustained global presence in the future.

About this title

From the Back Cover

"At a time when American global military commitments have expanded enormously, Kent Calder offers a cogent and insightful analysis of the ways that overseas basing shape the relationships between the United States and its friends and allies. This book provides a critical context for understanding how America meets its new commitments and challenges."--Francis Fukuyama, Johns Hopkins University

"This is a solid book that does a nice job with a number of aspects of bases--historical, economic, military, strategic. Calder has worked on enough of these various aspects to have a good feel for them, and it shows. His work is balanced, sophisticated, and policy-relevant. He provides just the right level of detail--enough to make his argument cogently and robustly."--Michael O'Hanlon, Brookings Institution

"A first-class piece of work. Calder is very convincing in demonstrating that base politics play a significant role in the relations between the United States and the nations that host American bases. His case studies are full of interesting and often unfamiliar aspects of U.S. foreign relations, in many instances regarding the stresses that often arise from the presence of an American base in a foreign country."--Michael Klare, Hampshire College

About the Author

Kent E. Calder is director of the Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School for Advanced International Studies, a faculty member at the university's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., and served as special adviser to the U.S. ambassador to Japan from 1997 to 2001. His books include Pacific Defense: Arms, Energy, and America's Future in Asia (William Morrow), Strategic Capitalism (Princeton), and Crisis and Compensation (Princeton).

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0691131430
• ISBN 13: 9780691131436
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 336