Published: 1 March 2009
Air & Space Power Journal - Spring 2009

Seeing the Elephant: The U.S. Role in Global Security by Hans Binnendijk and Richard L. Kugler. National Defense University Press and Potomac Books (http://www.potomacbooksinc.com), 22841 Quicksilver Drive, Dulles, Virginia 20166, 2007, 336 pages, $48.00 (hardcover), $24.00 (softcover).

Essentially a book of book reviews from the mid-1990s through 2005, Seeing the Elephant offers a fantastic starting point for any student of US security and the role the United States has played in world affairs since the downfall of the Soviet Union. Detailing and synopsizing over 60 books written since that event, the authors attempt to capture the development of US global strategic thought in the post-cold-war environment. Using the analogy of an elephant as described by blind men, each one “seeing” only that part he can touch, the reviews reveal a different approach to the US role in global security.

The authors further classify the books by using a Kantian or Hobbesian position regarding their optimistic or pessimistic outlooks. For the uninitiated, the authors provide a quick description of both philosophers. On the optimistic side, Immanuel Kant, a Prussian philosopher who lived in the 1700s, focused on the spread of the rule of law and constitutional republics as key components leading to a peaceful world. On the pessimistic side, Thomas Hobbes, a British philosopher of the 1600s, believed in strong central governments, whether democratic or not, as the key to ensuring security of the state and, thus, peace through strength when dealing with other states.

Each chapter reviews books with a common theme or bent. Seeing the Elephant opens with reviews of books written shortly after the downfall of communism, when it was easy to envision a new international society based on the ideas of democracy and globalization. It follows with the pessimistic reaction of writers to this initial surge of optimism, covering books written primarily since the late 1990s and dealing with such topics as the rise of terrorism and the uneven tensions produced by globalization. Other chapters address writings concerning the effect of technology on the world economy and security, US grand strategy in both a neo-Kantian and neo-Hobbesian world, and US defense strategies.

As the authors state in the preface, “the primary audience for this book is the students of America’s war colleges.” Essentially the CliffsNotes or “dirty purples” for a great list of books regarding strategic thought and the US role in global security, Seeing the Elephant should be mandatory reading at the beginning of each new class. Hopefully the authors will update it periodically to keep pace with developing ideas.

Col Steven G. Gray, USAF
Hickam AFB, Hawaii

Disclaimer

The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.