Narrative and the Making of US National Security

Dominant narratives - from the Cold War consensus to the War on Terror - have often served as the foundation for debates over national security. Weaving current challenges, past failures and triumphs, and potential futures into a coherent tale, with well-defined characters and plot lines, these narratives impart meaning to global events, define the boundaries of legitimate politics, and thereby shape national security policy. However, we know little about why or how such narratives rise and fall. Drawing on insights from diverse fields, Narrative and the Making of US National Security offers novel arguments about where these dominant narratives come from, how they become dominant, and when they collapse. It evaluates these arguments carefully against evidence drawn from US debates over national security from the 1930s to the 2000s, and shows how these narrative dynamics have shaped the policies pursued by the United States. Advance praise: 'Narrative and the Making of US National Security is an impressive accomplishment. For realists and rationalists, it provides compelling theoretical and empirical evidence for what they have intuitively known, but refused to acknowledge - that language, discourse and rhetoric are more than cheap talk. For constructivists and critical theorists, it provides a careful, systematic roadmap for how to demonstrate the open-ended but structured interplay between language and foreign policy. An original, and exceptionally well-written, book that should be the talk among international relations scholars.' Michael Barnett, George Washington University Advance praise: 'Concepts become stories become changed reality. Krebs's perfectly paced yarn demonstrates how with admirable clarity.' Iver B. Neumann, Montague Burton Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science Advance praise: 'Politicians are unceasing in their efforts to craft rhetoric to persuade their audiences, box in their rivals, and 'control the narrative', yet scholarship on foreign policy has until now barely scratched the surface of this fundamental topic. Ronald Krebs breaks new ground in explaining who succeeds in shaping the battleground of foreign policy ideas, and why.' Jack Snyder, Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Relations, Columbia University Advance praise: 'In this stimulating and intellectually ambitious book, Ronald Krebs argues that the facts never just speak for themselves, that they have to be interpreted, and that the shaping of a society's basic sense for the role it should play in the international arena is a deeply political process. That argument is important because of its sharp counter-intuitive edge: unpopular wars, Krebs argues, can actually shore up the prevailing world-view, whereas foreign policy success can lead to fundamental change. Those basic claims are supported by a thoughtful, honest and highly professional analysis of the historical evidence. All in all, a very impressive and thought-provoking piece of work.' Marc Trachtenberg, University of California, Los Angeles1. Narrating national security; Part I. Crisis, Authority, and Rhetorical Mode: The Fate of Narrative Projects, from the Battle against Isolationism to the War on Terror: 2. Domination and the art of storytelling; 3. Narrative lost: missed and mistaken opportunities; 4. Narrative won: opportunities seized; Part II. Narrative at War: Politics and Rhetorical Strategy in the Military Crucible, from Korea to Iraq: 5. The narrative politics of the battlefield; 6. Tracking the Cold War consensus; 7. Tracing the Cold War consensus; 8. Puzzles of the Cold War, lessons for the War on Terror; 9. Narrative in an age of fracture; Appendices.