By More Than Providence

Michael Green

Published by Columbia University Press 2017

By More Than Providence

Grand Strategy and American Power in the Asia Pacific Since 1783

Michael Green

In the series A Nancy Bernkopf Tucker and Warren I. Cohen Book on American–East Asian Relations

https://doi.org/10.7312/gree18042

Overview
Contents

About this book

In a history that spans the eighteenth century to the present, Michael J. Green follows the development of U.S. strategic thinking toward East Asia, identifying recurring themes in American statecraft that reflect the nation's political philosophy and material realities. Drawing on archives, interviews, and his own experience in the Pentagon and White House, Green finds one overarching concern driving U.S. policy toward East Asia: a fear that a rival power might use the Pacific to isolate and threaten the United States and prevent the ocean from becoming a conduit for the westward free flow of trade, values, and forward defense.

In a history that spans the eighteenth century to the present, Michael J. Green follows the development of U.S. strategic thinking toward East Asia. Green finds one overarching concern: that a rival power might use the Pacific to isolate and threaten the U.S. and prevent the ocean from becoming a conduit for the westward flow of trade and values.

Author information

Michael J. Green is senior vice president for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., and ?chair in modern and contemporary Japanese politics and foreign policy at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He has served most recently in government as special assistant to the president and senior director for Asia on the National Security Council staff.

Reviews

William Inboden, Chair, Clements Center for National Security, The University of Texas, Austin:
Already a renowned Japan expert, Green combines his regional knowledge with a capacious strategic mind and historical sensibility. This is one of the most impressive books I have ever read. It is consistently original, providing on every page fresh insights immersed in a compelling narrative arc, and it is destined to be a lodestar among scholarship on history, strategy, and statecraft.

Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Distinguished Service Professor, Harvard University, and author of Is the American Century Over? :
With impeccable research and lucid prose, Michael Green provides a first-rate account of the deep historical roots of American grand strategy toward Asia. It is essential for understanding American policy toward a crucial region.

James Steinberg, Syracuse University and former deputy secretary of state:
Michael Green's magisterial study is a timely and insightful reminder of the deep and long-standing ties between East Asia and the United States, and the complex interplay between our economic and security interests, and our values, a dynamic which has shaped US policy for two and a half centuries. It is an indispensable point of reference for students and policy makers seeking to understand a critical region where history casts a long shadow, notwithstanding the extraordinary changes of recent years.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
NOTE ON KOREAN, CHINESE , AND JAPANESE TERMS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xiii
INTRODUCTION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART ONE THE RISE OF THE UNITED STATES
1. “A Theatre for the Exercise of the Most Ambitious Intellect”: Seeds of Strategy, 1784–1860 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
2. “How Sublime the Pacific Part Assigned to Us”: Precursors to Expansion, 1861–1898 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	56
3. “I Wish to See the United States the Dominant Power on the Shores of the Pacific”: Grand Strategy in the Era of Theodore Roosevelt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	78
PART TWO THE RISE OF JAPAN
4. “Leave the Door Open, Rehabilitate China, and Satisfy Japan”: Defining the Open Door, 1909–1927 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
5. “Between Non- resistance and Coercion”: The Open Door Closes, 1928–1941 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
6. “We Have Got to Dominate the Pacific”: Grand Strategy and the War Against Japan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	188
PART THREE THE RISE OF THE SOVIETS
7. “The Overall Effect Is to Enlarge Our Strategic Frontier”: Defining Containment in the Pacific, 1945–1960 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
8. “Anyone Who Isn’t Confused Really Doesn’t Understand the Situation”: Asia Strategy and Escalation in Vietnam, 1961–1968 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	297
9. “An Even Balance”: Nixon and Kissinger’s Redefinition of Containment in Asia, 1969–1975 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	323
10. “The President Cannot Make Any Weak Moves”: Jimmy Carter and the Return of the China Card, 1977–1980 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	363
11. “To Contain and Over Time Reverse”: Ronald Reagan, 1980–1989 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	387
PART FOUR THE RISE OF CHINA
12. “The Key to Our Security and Our Prosperity Lies in the Vitality of Those Relationships”: George H. W. Bush and the Unipolar Moment, 1989–1992 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	423
13. “Engage and Balance”: Bill Clinton and the Unexpected Return of Great- Power Politics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	453
14. “A Balance of Power That Favors Freedom”: Strategic Surprise and the Asia Policy of George W. Bush Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	482
15. “The Pivot”: Barack Obama and the Struggle to Rebalance to Asia Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	518
Conclusion: The Historical Case for Asia Strategy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	541
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	549
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	689

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 760
Illustrations
- Other: 27 maps and photographs

eBook

Published: March 21, 2017
ISBN: 9780231542722