Skip to main content
Book

Rogue States and U.S. Foreign Policy: Containment after the Cold War

Rogue States and U.S. Foreign Policy: Containment after the Cold War by Robert S. Litwak

Publisher

Woodrow Wilson Center Press with Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000

ISBN

978-0-943875-97-2
Rogue States and U.S. Foreign Policy: Containment after the Cold War by Robert S. Litwak

Overview

Chapters

Reviews

President Clinton and other U.S. officials have warned that “rogue states” pose a major threat to international peace in the post-Cold War era. But what exactly is a rogue state? Does the concept foster a sound approach to foreign policy, or is it, in the end, no more than a counterproductive political epithet? Robert Litwak traces the origins and development of rogue state policy and then assesses its efficacy through detailed case studies of Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. He shows that the policy is politically selective, inhibits the ability of U.S. policymakers to adapt to changed conditions, and has been rejected by the United States’ major allies. Litwak concludes that by lumping and demonizing a disparate group of countries, the rogue state approach obscures understanding and distorts policymaking. In place of a generic and constricting strategy, he argues for the development of “differentiated” strategies of containment, tailored to the particular circumstances within individual states.

Robert S. Litwak is director of the Division of International Studies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He served on the National Security Council staff as director for nonproliferation and export controls.

About the Author

Robert S. Litwak image

Robert S. Litwak

Senior Vice President and Director of International Security Studies
Read More