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ALLIANCE COHESION & STRATEGY; US-EUROPEAN RELATIONS; PAST AND PRESENT

ALLIANCE COHESION & STRATEGY; US-EUROPEAN RELATIONS; PAST AND PRESENT. Donald Abenheim Hoover Institution Naval Postgraduate School X.2005. Note: Opinions here are those of author and not of the US Government and should be construed as such. BUZZ WORDS THAT CRY OUT FOR ELUCIDATION.

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ALLIANCE COHESION & STRATEGY; US-EUROPEAN RELATIONS; PAST AND PRESENT

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  1. ALLIANCE COHESION & STRATEGY; US-EUROPEAN RELATIONS; PAST AND PRESENT Donald Abenheim Hoover Institution Naval Postgraduate School X.2005 Note: Opinions here are those of author and not of the US Government and should be construed as such.

  2. BUZZ WORDS THAT CRY OUT FOR ELUCIDATION • Chas Krauthammer, Unipolar Moment, ca. 1991 • Early 2002, SECDEF Rumsfeld; DEPSECDEf Wolfowitz • coalition of the willing… • The mission defines the coalition… • Robert Kagan, “Of Paradise and Power”

  3. US STATECRAFT, ALLIANCES, IDEAS • 1796- Washington’s Farewell Address • 1823- Monroe Doctrine • 1941- Atlantic Charter • 1948/9- Washington Treaty • 1999- Mission defines the Coalition • 2001/2002- Coalitions of the Willing

  4. IDEENGESCHICHTE: HISTORY OF IDEAS • Dominant ideas among strategic elites • Making of strategy; role of allies • Democratic civil-military relations • US-European relations as case study • Baleful effect of polemics • Desideratum of informed, historical-political reflection

  5. QUESTION OF THE HOUR: DOES THE MISSION REALLY DEFINE THE COALTION? • More here than merely isolationism vs. unilateralism, as visible in cock-eyed debate of 2002-2004 • Interests versus Ideals • New ideas or recycled ideas from a problematic past • Freedom of national action vs. strategic efficacy of collective defense

  6. COLLECTIVE SECURITY VS. NATIONAL DEFENSE • 60 th Anniversary of D-Day, June 2004 • History Channel, “Greatest Generation” syndrome, fetish of tactics, good feeling • Lack of context, lack of understanding of alliance cohesion in European campaign in its totality. • No mention of 20 July 1944 • No understanding of Dwight Eisenhower as a figure of alliance cohesion • Biography of Dwight Eisenhower as point of departure

  7. 24 JANUARY 1923 VS. 6 JUNE 1944 • US withdrawal from Rhineland in wake of failed peace settlement in 1919 • US unilateralism vs. co-victor of 1918 • Refutation of April 1917 • No to US balanced presence in Europe • 1934-1942: Struggle over US grand strategy • Role of US, UK & USSR

  8. ROLE OF US MILITARY IN ALLIANCE POLITICS, 1903-1947 • Origins of mission defines the coalition • Reaction to experience of 1917-1931 • Inter service struggle over grand strategy • Navy vs. Army • Europe vs. Asia • Stanley Embick, world historical figure, Anglophobe

  9. GENERATIONAL CHANGES, COLD WAR EVENTS • Eisenhower vs MacArthur • Skepticism towards allies; alliances • Examples in the early-1950’s • MacArthur’s firing, 1951 • France, Indo China, 1954 • Suez, 1956

  10. POWER VS. VALUES • How Atlantic alliance works? • Contrast to buzz words: Ideas, value as point of departure • Values define the alliance • Values, Rhetoric, burden-sharing/shifting • Consultation and Consensus • Influence of Europeans on US strategy • Dean Acheson, Dwight Eisenhower, Colin Powell

  11. SO WHAT? THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF ALLIANCES IN GWOT • Issues: 11 March 2004: 7 July 2005 • Coalition of the Willing in 2005/6 • Burden-shifting, impact on US forces • Alliance cohesion in security building in Iraq • Utility of ex-Yugoslav model as path not taken in Iraq • Impact on international system of 2002/3 • Iran as the US/European problem of now.

  12. SO WHAT? CONTINUED…. • Strategy vs. Polemics • Disutility of Red-Blue follies as concerns collective defense in the 21st century • Role of informed reflection about the past vs. breast-beating, tub-thumping, eye-gouging • Values as basis of alliance are the US national interest. • Questions of alliance cohesion too important to be left to polemics, historical half-truths.

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