The seventh edition of this highly successful textbook analyzes the history, evolution, and processes of national security policies.
It examines national security from two fundamental fault lines - the end of the Cold War and the evolution of contemporary terrorism dating from the 9/11 terrorist attacks - and traces their path up to ISIS and beyond. The book considers how the resulting era of globalization and geopolitics guides policy. Placing these trends in conceptual and historical context and following them through military, semimilitary, and nonmilitary concerns, National Security treats its subject as a nuanced and subtle phenomenon that encompasses everything from the global to the individual with the nation at its core.
New to the Seventh Edition
- An assessment of the impact of the Trump presidency on national security and relevant domestic policies, including border security and energy security matters.
- The continuing impact and evolution of terrorism as a security problem, with notable emphasis on the decline of the Islamic State (IS) and what terrorist threats are likely to succeed it.
- A description of the cyber security problem with an emphasis on Russian efforts to interfere with the 2016 US presidential election and beyond.
- A revised delineation of the geographic and substantive challenges facing the United States in the form of a chapter on "lethal landscapes," emphasizing the rise of China as a global rival and opponent in Asia and an attempt to deal with state aspirants like the Kurds.
This book will continue to be highly beneficial to students and scholars working and studying in security studies, military and strategic studies, defense studies, foreign policy, US politics and international relations.
Part I: The Conceptual Nexus
1. National Security for a New and Changing Era
2. The Concepts and Logic of National Security
Part II: The Historical Context
3. Influences from the Past: The American Historical Experience
4. The Post-1945 Challenge: The Nature and End of the Cold War
5. Moving to the Present: The Post-Cold War World
Part III: Domestic Environment and Change
6. The Domestic Environment
7. Domestic Battlegrounds and National Security
8. "Legacy" Military Problems
Part IV: The Contemporary Environment and Challenges
9. The Structure and Consequences of Modern Violence: Asymmetrical Warfare
10. Residues of 9/11: Terrorism, Afghanistan, and Iraq
11. Lethal Landscapes: The Future Menu
12. The Menu of Activism: Peacekeeping, State Building, Development, and Humanitarian Intervention
Part V: On the Horizon
13. New Dimensions and Approaches to National Security: Borders, Energy and Environment, and Cyber Security
14. Looking Ahead
Biography
Donald M. Snow is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Alabama, where he specialized in international relations, national security, and foreign policy. He has also served as visiting professor at the US Air, Army, and Naval War Colleges and the US Air Command and Staff College.
Praise for National Security
Donald Snow offers a compelling approach to understanding the complexities of US national security. By moving beyond worst-case threat analysis, he grounds foreign policy in American domestic politics to reinvigorate thinking on the future of national security.
Derek S. Reveron, Harvard University
I recommend the new edition of National Security without reservation. It is a readable and informative text, and students find it useful and engaging. In addition, Donald Snow’s use of contemporary as well as historic examples opens the door for many meaningful classroom discussions. I find the text essential in the discussion of the complexities surrounding the study of the politics of US national security issues and list it as required reading every semester.
Matthew Wahlert, Miami University
Dr. Snow has once again delivered a text for its time. Rather than focusing on the institutional aspects of national security, he looks at the real issues of national security in a post–Cold War, post–9/11 world. The strong connection he makes between domestic politics and international threats goes beyond the normal "guns v. butter" debate. I am looking forward to the publication of this book so that I can adopt it for my courses.
Michael Kanner, University of Colorado–Boulder
This book offers readers an excellent introduction to national security. It skillfully combines a clear conceptual framework with thorough applications to both historical and contemporary security challenges. The book carefully guides readers through the abstract logic of interests, power, security and domestic politics, before examining the concrete manifestations of these concepts in the context of US national security from the early days of the nation to the post–9/11 world and the rise of the Islamic State.
Benjamin T. Jones, University of Mississippi
