ABSTRACT

The historical record suggests that neither the United States nor other countries that have relied on force as a primary instrument of foreign policy have much to show for it. US military and intelligence agencies helped build nefarious police forces as Iran’s SAVAK and Idi Amin’s “public safety unit” and helped organize death squads in Guatemala and El Salvador. On numerous occasions the United States has committed armed forces to undertake major military interventions. The history of US intervention hardly inspires confidence that force is a reliable tool of diplomacy. Many countries have been disappointed with the political results stemming from using force against their neighbors. Surely if the Soviet Union can recognize the limits of force, so can the United States. This does not mean that force is irrelevant, but in an era when so many powerful weapons have fallen into so many hands, nations no longer can use force reliably against their neighbors.