Waging War, Planning Peace

In Waging War, Planning Peace, Aaron Rapport investigates how U.S. presidents and their senior advisers have managed vital noncombat activities while the nation is in the midst of fighting or preparing to fight major wars.

Aaron Rapport is Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge.

Why is the United States often unprepared for the peace that inevitably follows war? Why are its ambitious plans for the political reconstruction or transformation of defeated countries not matched by adequate planning? Aaron Rapport's intriguing answer, well grounded in theory and history, is essential reading for analysts of decision making and of American foreign policy.

Yaacov Y. I. Vertzberger, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem:

This is an important and original book that addresses the contingencies of policy failures and successes of the critical stage of noncombat operations in the strategic cycle of military interventions. The theoretical explanation draws on and is rooted in construal level theory from psychology. Aaron Rapport empirically tests this theory against a well-designed, robust set of case histories. This volume should not be missed by scholars and practitioners who are interested and engaged in military policy planning.

James McAllister, Williams College, author of No Exit: America and the German Problem, 1943–1954:

Noncombat operations are central to present and future American foreign policy objectives. Aaron Rapport argues persuasively that construal level theory explains varied assessments of noncombat military operations in four different cases: Germany, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq. These intrinsically interesting case studies raise important issues relevant to current policy.