America's Wartime Diplomacy: The Politics of Coalition Maintenance and
Alliance Management
SA.200.755
WEDNESDAYS, 2:15-4:45, ROME 534
Ambassador Eric Edelman
Final Version 123009
Course Concept
For Americans alliances are something of an unnatural act. During its formative years the
U.S. was sheltered from international conflict by two oceans. In addition policymakers in the
nation's first 125 years had normative advice from the founding generation against “political
connections ” with Europe or "entangling alliances" and "seeking monsters to destroy" (George
Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams respectively). As a result, throughout
the 19th Century, the U.S. sought, above all else, to avoid political commitments to other
countries and their attendant responsibilities. With America's rise to world power, however,
alliances became a necessary but awkward requirement. But the process of adjustment was
difficult. Even when Wilson took the country into the "war to end all wars" the U.S. was an
"associated" not an Allied power. Our understanding of U.S. attitudes toward and management
of its alliances is hobbled by our habit of studying the diplomacy that led to the outbreak of war
and then the peacemaking which followed. The diplomacy of wartime coalition maintenance has
been slighted. This course will explore U.S. diplomacy during World War I, World War II, the
Korean War, Vietnam, the Iraq Wars, Kosovo and Afghanistan to examine how American
learned the hard lessons attendant to Churchill's pithy observation that "the only thing worse than
fighting a war with allies is trying to fight one without them." The course will examine the
habits, norms, and institutional arrangements of alliance management that are rooted in the
requirements of fostering and holding together sometimes fragile wartime coalitions. It will also
consider Cold War cases to illuminate U.S. alliance management practices beyond wartime.
Requirements
Each student will write four memoranda from an assigned list, and will be prepared to
summarize his or her memorandum in a two minute presentation in class. They will be expected,
in most cases, to re-write the memorandum after the class to which it refers.
Memoranda will
include To, From, Subject, and Date lines at the top, will be in 12 points of a standard font (e.g.
Times New Roman) and will have margins of 1.5" at the left, 1" at top, right, and bottom, and
will consist of single-spaced, numbered paragraphs separated by a full space from one another.
The memoranda will be no longer than three pages, and will be submitted in hard copy in class:
we also request electronic copies sent to esedelman@gmail.com. These format requirements and
presentations for 5% each, and general participation the remaining 20%. Students will, of
course, be expected to attend all classes having done the readings and being prepared to discuss
them.
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Books Required for Purchase
David F. Trask, The AEF and Coalition Warmaking, 1917-1918, (Lawrence, KS: University
Press of Kansas, 1993)
Mark Stoler, Allies and Adversaries: The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Grand Alliance, and U.S.
Strategy in World War II (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2006)
William Stueck, The Korean War: An International History (Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1995)
George Herring, America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975 (New
York: McGraw-Hill, 2002, 4th Ed.)
Richard Haass, War of Necessity, War of Choice: A Memoir of Two Iraq Wars (New York:
Simon and Schuster, 2009)
Seth Jones, In the Graveyard of Empires (New York, W.W. Norton, 2009)
Getting in Touch with the Instructors
To arrange office hours with Ambassador Edelman, email him at esedelman@gmail.com
1. Alliances, Coalition Maintenance and Alliance Management
Required Reading:
Paul W. Schroeder, “Alliances, 1815-1945: Weapons of Power and Tools of
Management,” in Klaus Knorr, ed, Historical Dimensions of National Security
Problems,” (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1976) 227-263
Mark A. Stoler, “War and Diplomacy: Or, Clausewitz for Diplomatic Historians,
Diplomatic History, 29:1, 1-26
Glenn H. Snyder, “The Security Dilemma in Alliance Politics,” World Politics, 36:4,
461-495
Dan Reiter, “Learning, Realism, and Alliances: The Weight of the Shadow of the Past,”
World Politics; 46:4, 490-526
Patricia A. Weitsman, “Alliance Cohesion and Coalition Warfare: The Central Powers
and Triple Entente,” Security Studies, 12:3, 79-113
Christina L. Davis, “Linkage Diplomacy: Economic and Security Bargaining in the
Anglo-Japanese Alliance, 1902-23; International Security, 33:3, 143-179
Patricia A. Weitsman, “Intimate Enemies: The Politics of Peacetime Alliances,” Security
Studies, 7:1, 156-193
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Recommended Reading:
Stephen Walt: The Origins of Alliances, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1987)
Dan Reiter, Crucible of Beliefs: Learning, Alliances, and World Wars (Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press, 1996)
Jeremy Pressman, Warring Friends: Alliance Restraint in International Politics,
(Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2008)
Glenn H. Snyder, Alliance Politics, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997)
Ernest May and Richard Neustadt, Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for DecisionMakers (New York: Free Press, 1988).
Paul Gordon Lauren, Diplomacy: New Approaches in History, Theory, and Policy (New
York: Free Press, 1979), 245-263
2. World War I
Required Reading:
David F. Trask, The AEF and Coalition Warmaking, 1917-1918, (Lawrence, KS:
University Press of Kansas, 1993)
N.Gordon Levin, Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America’s Response to War and
Revolution, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1968) 1-50
Recommended Reading:
John Keegan, The First World War (New York: Vintage Books, 1998)
Josephy Persico, 11th Month, 11th Day, 11th Hour, Armistice Day, 1918: World War I
and its Violent Climax, (New York, Random House, 2004)
Thomas J. Knock, To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World
Order, (New York, Oxford University Press, 1992)
Arthur Walworth, America’s Moment:1918, American Diplomacy at the End of World
War I, (New York, W.W. Norton, 1977)
Margaret Macmillan, Paris, 1919: Six Months That Changed the World, (New York,
Random House, 2001)
Lloyd C. Gardner, Safe for Democracy: The Anglo-American Response to Revolution,
1913-1923, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1984).
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3. World War II - Europe - Part 1
Required Reading:
Mark Stoler, Allies and Adversaries: The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Grand Alliance, and
U.S. Strategy in World War II (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press,
2006) 1-145
Geoffrey Roberts, Stalin’s Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939-1953, (New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006) 165-192
Recommended Reading:
Andrew Roberts, Masters and Commanders (New York: Harper Collins, 2009)
Mark A. Stoler, Allies in War: Britain and America Against the Axis Powers, 19401945 (London: Hodder Arnold, 2005)
Herbert Feis, Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin: The War They Waged and the Peace They
Sought, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1967)
Herbert Feis, Between War and Peace: The Potsdam Conference, (Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 1960)
George Herring, Aid to Russia, 1941-1946: Strategy, Diplomacy, and the Origins of the
Cold War, (New York, Columbia University Press, 1973)
4. World War II - Europe - Part 2
Required Reading:
Mark Stoler, Allies and Adversaries: The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Grand Alliance, and
U.S. Strategy in World War II (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press,
2006) 146-270
Gabriel Kolko, The Politics of War: The World and United States Foreign Policy,
1943-1945, (New York: Vintage Press, 1968) 242-340
John Lewis Gaddis, Russia, The Soviet Union, and the United States: An Interpretive
History, (New York: John Wiley, 1978) 147-174
Recommended Reading:
John Lewis Gaddis, The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941-1947,
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1972), 1-32
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5. World War II - Asia
Required Reading:
Gabriel Kolko, The Politics of War: The World and United States Foreign Policy,
1943-1945, (New York: Vintage Press, 1968) 194-208
Christopher Thorne, Allies of a Kind: The United States, Britain, and the War Against
Japan, 1941-1945, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978) 131-167, 273-304, 371418; 497-545; 654-671
Recommended Reading:
Christopher Thorne, The Issue of War: States, Societies, and the Far Eastern Conflict
of 1941-1945, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985)
Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Racing the Enemy, Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan,
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005)
Ronald Spector, Eagle Against the Sun: The American War with Japan, (New York:
Vintage Books, 1985)
Ronald Spector, In The Ruins of Empire: The Japanese Surrender and the Battle for
Postwar Asia; (New York, Random House, 2007)
6. The Korean War
Required Reading:
William Stueck, The Korean War: An International History (Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1995) 10-203, 348-370
Thomas Risse-Kappen, Cooperation Among Democracies: The European Influence on
U.S. Foreign Policy, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995) 42-82
Recommended Reading:
William Stueck, Rethinking the Korean War: A New Diplomatic and Strategic History,
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002)
Max Hastings, The Korean War, (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987)
David Halberstam, The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War, (New York:
Hyperion, 2007)
Roger Dingman, “Atomic Diplomacy during the Korean War” International Security, 13:3
(Winter, 1988-1989), pp. 50-91
Rosemary J. Foot, “Nuclear Coercion and the Ending of the Korean Conflict”, International
Security, 13:3 (Winter, 1988-1989), pp. 92-112
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Elizabeth A. Stanley, “Ending the Korean War: The Role of Domestic Coalition Shifts
in Overcoming Obstacles to Peace,” International Security, Vol. 34, No. 1 (Summer
2009), pp. 42–82
7. The Vietnam War – 1945-1961
Required Reading:
George Herring, America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975
(NewYork: McGraw-Hill, 2002, 4th Ed.), 2-79
Andrew J. Rotter, “The Triangular Route to Vietnam: The United States, Great Britain,
and Southeast Asia, 1945- 1950,” The International History Review, 6:3, 404-423
Mark Philip Bradley, “Making Sense of the French War: The Postcolonial Movement
and the First Vietnam War, 1945-1954, in Mark Atwood Lawrence (ed.) and Fredrik
Logevall, (ed.), The First Vietnam War: Colonial Conflict and Cold War Crisis,
(Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2007) 16-41
Andrew J. Rotter, “Chronicle of a War Foretold: The United States and Vietnam, 19451954, in Lawrence and Logevall, The First Vietnam War, 282-308
Mark Atwood Lawrence, “Explaining the Early Decisions: The United States and the
French War, 1945-1954,” in Mark Philip Bradley (ed.) and Marilyn B. Young (ed.),
Making Sense of the Vietnam Wars: Local, National and Transnational Perspectives,
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2008) 23-44
George C. Herring and Richard H. Immerman, “Eisenhower, Dulles, and Dienbienphu: „The Day
We Didn't Go to War‟ Revisited” The Journal of American History, 71:2, 343-363
Recommended Reading:
Mark Atwood Lawrence, The Vietnam War: A Concise International History, (New
York: Oxford University Press, 2008) 27-66
R. B. Smith, An International History of the Vietnam War: Revolution versus
Containment, 1955-1961, (New York: St. Martins Press, 1983)
Mark Atwood Lawrence, Assuming the Burden: Europe and the American
Commitment to War in Vietnam, (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005)
Marilyn B. Young: The Vietnam Wars, (New York: HarperPerennial, 1991)
8. The Vietnam War – 1961-1973
Required Reading:
George Herring, America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975
(NewYork: McGraw-Hill, 2002, 4th Ed.), 80-283
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Rhiannon Vickers, “Harold Wilson, the British Labour Party and the War in Vietnam”
Journal of Cold War Studies,10:2, 41–70
Peter Busch, “Supporting the War: Britain‟s Decision to Send the Thompson Mission to
Vietnam, 1960-61,“ Cold War History, 2:1, 69-94
Yukio Torikata, “Re-Examing DeGaulle‟s Peace Initiative on the Vietnam War,”
Diplomatic History, 31:5, 909-938
Recommended Reading:
John W. Young, “Britain and „LBJ‟s War‟, 1964-68, Cold War History, 2:3, 63-92
Antonio Varsori, “Britain and U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War during the Kennedy
Administration, 1961-63,” Cold War History, 3:2, 83-112
R. B. Smith, An International History of the Vietnam War: The Kennedy Strategy,
(New York, St. Martin‟s Press, 1985)
Michael Hunt, Lyndon Johnson’s War, (New York: Hill and Wang, 1996)
Marilyn B. Young: The Vietnam Wars, (New York: HarperPerennial, 1991)
Andrew Preston, “Balancing War and Peace: Canadian Foreign Policy and the Vietnam
War, 1961–1965”, Diplomatic History, 17:1, 73-111
9. The Cold War – Suez and the INF Deployments.
Required Reading:
Thomas Risse-Kappen, Cooperation Among Democracies: The European Influence on
U.S. Foreign Policy, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995) 83-104, 183-193
Roger Louis, Ends of British Imperialism (London: I.B. Tauris, 2006) 589-689
Jeffrey Herf, War By Other Means: Soviet Power, West German Resistance, and the
Battle of the Euromissiles, (New York: Free Press, 1991) 45-66, 113-233
Recommended Reading:
Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), 1955-1957: Dwight D. Eisenhower,
Vol. XVI: Suez Canal Crisis
W. Scott Lucas, Divided We Stand (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1991).
Evelyn Shuckburgh, Descent to Suez (London: Weidenfield and Nicolson, 1986).
Peter Rodman, More Precious Than Peace (New York: Charles Scribner‟s Sons, 1994).
Roger Louis and Roger Owen, eds., Suez 1956 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991).
Thomas Risse-Kappen, “Did „Peace Through Strength‟ End the Cold War? Lessons from
INF”, International Security, 16:1, 162-188
Strobe Talbott, Deadly Gambits: The Reagan Administration and the Stalemate in
Nuclear Arms Control (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984)
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10. The Balkans Wars
Required Reading:
Brendan Simms, Unfinest Hour: Britain and the Destruction of Bosnia, (London:
Penguin Books, 2002) 49-134, 314-350
Ivo H. Daalder and Michael E. O‟Hanlon, Winning Ugly: NATO’s War to Save Kosovo,
(Washington: Brookings Institution, 2000) 63-226
Dag Henriksen, “Inflexible Response: Diplomacy, Airpower and the Kosovo Crisis,
1998-199,” Journal of Strategic Studies, 31:6, 825-858
Recommended Reading:
Daniel L. Byman and Matthew C. Waxman, “Kosovo and the Great Air Power Debate”
International Security, 24:4, 5-38
Andrew L. Stigler, “A Clear Victory for Air Power: NATO's Empty Threat to Invade Kosovo,”
International Security, 27:3, 124-157
Richard Holbrooke, To End A War, (New York: Random House, 1999)
Wesley K. Clark, Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Future of Combat,
(New York: Public Affairs, 2001)
Strobe Talbott, The Russia Hand (New York: Random House, 2002) 298-349
Andrew Bacevich (ed.) and Eliot Cohen (ed.) War Over Kosovo, (New York: Columbia
University Press, 2001)
Tim Judah, Kosovo: War and Revenge, (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000)
Laura Silber and Allan Little, Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation (New York: Penguin
Books, 1997)
11. The Gulf War and the Iraq War
Required Reading:
Richard Haass, War of Necessity, War of Choice: A Memoir of Two Iraq Wars
(NewYork: Simon and Schuster, 2009)
Recommended Reading:
Philip H. Gordon and Jeremy Shapiro, Allies At War: Europe and the Crisis Over Iraq
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004)
Lawrence Freedman and Efraim Karsh, The Gulf Conflict, 1990-1991: Diplomacy and
War in the New World Order, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993)
George Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed, (New York, Vintage Books,
1998)
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James A. Baker, III, The Politics of Diplomacy: Revolution, War and Peace, 1989-1992,
(New York: G.P. Putnams & Sons, 1995)
12. Afghanistan
Required Reading:
Seth Jones, In The Graveyard of Empires: America’s War in Afghanistan (New York:
W.W. Norton, 2009) 86-326
Recommended Reading:
Richard B. Andres, Craig Wills, and Thomas Griffith Jr, “Winning with Allies: The
Strategic Value of the Afghan Model,” International Security, 30:3, 124–160
Stephen D. Biddle, “Allies, Airpower, and Modern Warfare: The Afghan Model in
Afghanistan and Iraq,” International Security, 30:3, 161-176
Sarah Kreps “When Does the Mission Determine the Coalition? The Logic of
Multilateral Intervention and the Case of Afghanistan', Security Studies, 17:3, 531-567
Ahmed Rashid, Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan,
Afghanistan and Central Asia, (New York: Penguin Books, 2009)
David Kilcullen, The Accidental Guerrilla, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009)
James Dobbins, After the Taliban: Nation-Building in Afghanistan (Washington:
Potomac Books, 2008)
13. Wrap Up
Recommended Reading:
Rajan Menon, The End of Alliances, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007)
Evan Braden Montgomery, Reshaping America’s Alliances for the Long Haul,
(Washington: CSBA, 2009) accessed at www.csbaonline.org
Stephen Walt, “Why Alliances Endure or Collapse”, Survival, 39:1, 156-179
John Hillen, “Superpowers Don‟t Do Windows,” Orbis, 41:2, 241-257
Christopher Layne, “U.S Hegemony and the Perpetuation of NATO,” Journal of
Strategic Studies, 23:3, 59-91
Galia Press-Barnathan, “Managing the Hegemon: NATO under Unipolarity,” Security
Studies, 15:2, 271-309
Stephen Walt, “Alliances in a Unipolar World,” World Politics, 61:1, 86-120