Publisher's Synopsis
Alliances and legitimacy represent essential ingredients in the United States' amalgamation of national power. For the U.S. military specifically, they are force enablers and force multipliers. Alliances serve to augment U.S. combat power, enable access into impermissible regions, and ultimately provide additional means to achieve operational objectives that, in turn, support strategic interests. Legitimacy provides the credible backdrop to justify U.S. military actions abroad. This alone may conserve combat power for more essential tasks by securing early and lasting compliance in the operational environment. Together, alliances and legitimacy are integral to the operational success of the U.S. military. However, a significant challenge emerges when America's strategic partnerships appear to contradict its claims of legitimacy. That is, when disparate norms, values, and perceived interests call into question America's international allegiances or moral foundations, it has the insidious effect of eroding the foundation of its military legitimacy and undermining the integrity of its alliance strategy. This has considerable implications for U.S. military commanders and planners charged with walking the operational tightrope: developing campaign plans that preserve legitimacy while operating within a foreign policy-negotiated framework of alliances and strategic partnerships. This book seeks to answer this fundamental question: how to navigate an operational environment characterized by contradictory alliances that potentially undermine U.S. military legitimacy.
