Is the United States seriously overcommitted in its worldwide relationships? Donald Nuechterlein examines the foreign policy priorities of the United States as it enters the latter half of the 1980s and contemplates its future international role; he argues that whether the United States remains a superpower into the twenty-first century depends on how it decides its international priorities in this decade and then marshals its resources to defend and enhance them. The hard decisions needed to establish priorities among United States military and economic commitments abroad must be made if the United States is to remain financially strong and emotionally committed to an international rather than an isolationist foreign policy. In this book the author uses a conceptual framework he developed earlier to assess the nature and intensity of specific challenges to United States national interests. Nuechterlein analyzes seven geographical areas of the world in terms of the United States historical interests and suggests the future degree of interest that should be assigned to them. He also classifies thirty countries, in various parts of the world, in terms of their national interest value to the United States in the coming decade. Finally, he assesses the foreign policies of the Reagan administration in light of national interest priorities. America Overcommitted will be essential reading for makers of American foreign and national security policy, for journalists reporting on international affairs, for scholars seeking better ways to analyze United States foreign policy objectives, and for informed citizens who ask why the United States is involved militarily in all parts of the world. America Overcommitted is thus a guide to better decision making in foreign affairs in this critical decade.

When the first edition of America Recommitted was published in 1991, the world was passing through a period of sweeping political and social change. The Cold War was over; China had reverted to harsh authoritarian rule; U.S.-led forces were deployed in Saudi Arabia for potential military action against Iraq; the Soviet Union was on the verge of disintegration; and the unraveling of Yugoslavia had set the stage for brutal ethnic conflicts in Bosnia and Kosovo. In the midst of this widespread upheaval, the United States reassessed its own role as the sole remaining superpower—a process that continues today. This new edition features three new chapters that assess U.S. foreign policy during the last two years of the Bush presidency and the first seven years of the Clinton administration, bringing new data and insights to the questions that have challenged U.S. policymakers during the 1990s.

Are you often pulled in so many directions that you wonder if you are just overcommitted? Rachel Balducci, mom of six, has wondered the same thing. In Overcommitted: How to Cut Chaos and Find Balance, she gives us a solution to our fren-zied days and a plan for achieving balanced, God-centered days.

Donald E. Nuechterlein examines George W. Bush's transformation of American foreign policy and the repercussions for the future. Defiant Superpower recounts how the Bush administration's bold actions in response to September 11, 2001, toppled the Taliban and displayed American strength. But by 2002, much of the world, including our allies, had become alarmed by American assertiveness, particularly Bush's proclamation that America would pursue preventative wars to eliminate future threats. The divergence of national interests between the United States and old allies became acute in early 2003 when Germany and France openly rejected U.S. plans to invade Iraq and bring about regime change. While the Bush administration's defiant and unilateralist policies initially seemed to empower the United States to pursue its national interests, the pitfalls of this new American hegemony are now apparent. Occupying Iraq and engaging in a global "war on terror" are costly, in both human and economic terms, and the United States would benefit from broad-based international cooperation. Will Bush's reelection mean that the robust hegemony of his first term is here to stay, or will he moderate his style and objectives to mend fences with old allies? Defiant Superpower offers a balanced critique of recent foreign policy and suggests how policymakers should recognize the limits of the new hegemony in order to determine America's realistic national interests.