Subtitle: How American Military Dominance Makes Us Less Safe, Less Prosperous, and Less Free

Numerous polls show Americans want to reduce our military presence abroad, allowing allies and other nations to assume greater responsibility both for their own defense and for enforcing security in their respective regions. In The Power Problem, Christopher A. Preble explores the aims, costs, and limitations of the use of this nation’s military power; throughout, he makes the case that the majority of Americans are right, and foreign policy experts who disdain the public’s perspective are wrong. Preble is a keen and skeptical observer of recent U.S. foreign policy experiences, which have been marked by promiscuous use of armed intervention. He documents how possession of vast military strength runs contrary to the original intent of the Founders, and has, as they feared, shifted balance of power from individual citizens toward central government, and from the legislative and judicial branches of government to executive.

In Preble’s estimate, if policymakers in Washington have at their disposal immense military might, they will constantly be tempted to overreach, and to redefine ever more broadly national interest. Preble holds that core national interest-preserving American security-is easily defined and largely immutable. Possessing vast military power in order to further other objectives is, he asserts, illicit and to be resisted. Preble views military power as purely instrumental: if it advances U.S. security, then it is fulfilling its essential role. If it does not — if it undermines our security, imposes unnecessary costs, and forces all Americans to incur additional risks — then our military power is a problem, one that only we can solve. As it stands today, Washington’s eagerness to maintain and use an enormous and expensive military is corrosive to contemporary American democracy.

Reviews: “The Power Problem doesn’t flinch from offering specifics as to what commitments the United States should keep and which it should shed. In addition to proposing criteria for using military force that are stricter than the old Weinberger-Powell doctrine–allied interests would no longer be treated as synonymous with American national interests–Preble suggests ‘right-sizing’ our military forces for the defense of American territory and the Western hemisphere. . . . Preble has started a debate where too often there has been a monologue.”–W. James Antle III –Washington Times, 18 June 2009

“In this readable new volume, Preble argues flatly that the current level of American military capabilities makes the United States less safe, less prosperous, and less free. America’s military power should be reduced to fit within the balances of the constitution and a realistic view of security requirements in a multipolar world. . . . Preble’s spirited analysis gives rise to some big questions: Are American elites prepared to give up running the world? Can we afford to relinquish the prerequisites of global hegemony? Who will keep order in the world if not hegemonic America? . . . Whatever the inconveniences of change, Preble makes clear that the status quo itself is increasingly expensive and ultimately unsustainable.”–David Calleo and Marco Zambotti –Survival, October 2009

“I want to recommend a new book called The Power Problem: How American Military Dominance Makes Us Less Safe, Less Prosperous, and Less Free. The book’s got a good explanatory subtitle, but to briefly sketch the thesis, Preble argues that our over-large military establishment isn’t just a waste of money, but actually harmful to our security. . . . If we had much less military capacity, we would have a much narrower definition of the strategic purpose of our military–to defend the country against threats–and would find that we were happy with that equilibrium. But the large military spawns a grandiose strategic concept that winds up writing checks that even a gigantic military can’t cash. I think this analysis is dead on.”–Matthew Yglesias –Think Progress, 25 April 2009

“I recommend Christopher Preble’s excellent new book, The Power Problem . . . which tackles the familiar justifications for American dominance head-on, and shows that the usual pieties about global stability or spreading democracy are far from airtight.”–Stephen M. Walt –ForeignPolicy.com, 12 May 2009

“In an important new book, The Power Problem, Christopher Preble defies the conventional categories and gives us a 21st-century foreign policy consistent with American traditions. . . . Preble argues that our current defense posture is radically out of line with American interests, properly understood. He calls for scrapping our outdated Cold War alliances, and insists that the constitutional goal of ‘the common defense of the United States’ could be secured by a military budget far smaller than what we currently spend.”–Gene Healy –Washington Examiner, 14 April 2009