National security and core values in American history / William O. Walker III.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Walker, William O., III, 1946- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

National security--United States.

National security.

United States--Foreign relations.

United States.

United States--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 351 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Other Title:

National Security & Core Values in American History

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

There is no book quite like National Security and Core Values in American History. Drawing upon themes from the whole of the nation's past, William O. Walker III presents a new interpretation of the history of American exceptionalism, that is, of the basic values and liberties that have given the United States its very identity. He argues that a political economy of expansion and the quest for security led American leaders after 1890 to equate prosperity and safety with global engagement. In so doing, they developed and clung to what Walker calls the 'security ethos.' Expressed in successive grand strategies - Wilsonian internationalism, global containment, and strategic globalism - the security ethos ultimately damaged the values citizens cherish most and impaired popular participation in public affairs. Most important, it led to the abuse of executive authority after September 11, 2001, by the administration of President George W. Bush.

Contents:

Commerce, expansion, and republican virtue

The first national security state

The postwar era and American values

The construction of global containment

Civic virtue in Richard Nixon's America

Core values and strategic globalism through 1988

The false promise of a new world order

Globalization and militarism

The War on Terror and core values

Conclusion: the security ethos and civic virtue.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 08 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 309-322) and index.

ISBN:

1-107-19174-2

0-511-81178-0

0-511-65056-6

0-511-53292-X

0-511-53201-6

0-511-53383-7

OCLC:

609834769