Full Description
The collapse of the Soviet Union ushered in American global hegemony in world affairs. In the post-Cold War period, both Democrat and Republican governments intervened, fought insurgencies, and changed regimes. In America's Wars, Thomas Henriksen explores how America tried to remake the world by militarily invading a host of nations beset with civil wars, ethnic cleansing, brutal dictators, and devastating humanitarian conditions. The immediate post-Cold War years saw the United States carrying out interventions in the name of Western-style democracy, humanitarianism, and liberal internationalism in Panama, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo. Later, the 9/11 terrorist attacks led America into larger-scale military incursions to defend itself from further assaults by al Qaeda in Afghanistan and from perceived nuclear arms in Iraq, while fighting small-footprint conflicts in Africa, Asia, and Arabia. This era is coming to an end with the resurgence of great power rivalry and rising threats from China and Russia.
Contents
Introduction; 1. An end and a beginning: From cold war to Panama invasion for regime change; 2. The Persian Gulf war and its aftermath; 3. Wars other than war, wars in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo; 4. Afghanistan: Regime change and building society in the graveyard of empires; 5. The Iraq war: Changing a regime, building democracy, and fighting an insurgency; 6. America's small-footprint wars: Asia, Africa, & the Middle East; 7. America's larger forever wars - Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq; 8. A conclusion: The new era.
