Event Details - Book Talk: Dying by the Sword: The Militarization of US Foreign Policy*

* Sponsored by the Democratic Governance and Leadership Program, The Dr. Edward Minnock Institute for Global Engagement, and the Rotary Club of the Bridgewaters.

Sidita Kushi, Assistant Professor of Political Science, BSU 

Through a mixture of historical narratives and new data-driven patterns, Dying by the Sword traces the United States’ foreign policy journey, from its humble beginnings in the 1700s to its modern-day challenges of global leadership and new security threats. It focuses on the U.S.’s usage of military tools relative to other tools of state-craft, such as diplomacy and economics. It argues that since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. has increased its usage of force abroad, despite decreased international threats. The U.S.’s militaristic foreign policy, discussed as “kinetic diplomacy”, poses serious issues for the U.S.’s continued international leadership role, credibility, and domestic priorities, and it threatens international peace and security. The authors deem it imperative that the U.S. general public have direct knowledge and access to patterns, outcomes, and costs of increased U.S. militarism. 

Link to book: Dying by the Sword - Monica Duffy Toft; Sidita Kushi - Oxford University Press (oup.com)