The Battle for Hearts and Minds – Using Soft Power to Undermine Terrorist Networks - Softcover

Lennon, Alexander T J

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0262621797 ISBN 13: 9780262621793

Publisher: MIT Press, 2003

Synopsis

Examining the potential of nonmilitary strategies to reduce terrorism, including postconflict reconstruction, public diplomacy, and foreign assistance.

Although military operations have dominated media coverage of the war on terrorism, a much broader array of policy options may hold the key to reducing the appeal of global terrorist networks, particularly in economically destitute areas. These strategies involve the use of "soft power," a term first used by political scientist Joseph Nye in a 1990 article in Foreign Policy to describe nonmilitary strategies to shape international relations and behavior. The Battle for Hearts and Minds discusses four aspects of soft power.

The first section of the book considers failed or failing states as havens for transnational terrorist networks, and examines the most effective ways to build stable nations in unstable regions, including focused looks at Afghanistan and Sierra Leone. The second section explores postconflict reconstruction, including in-depth examinations of security, justice and reconciliation, opportunities for achieving socioeconomic well-being, and increased participation in government. The third section examines public diplomacy, asking whether the United States needs new policies or simply a new image to increase its appeal in the Arab and Muslim world. The final section of the book looks at foreign assistance, and assesses the potential of the current administration's "Millennium Challenge Account" (or as one contributor puts it, "Compassionate Conservatism Meets Global Poverty") to combat poverty, increase democracy, and reduce the appeal of terror. The Battle for Hearts and Minds presents a balanced assessment of the role that nonmilitary options can play against transnational terrorist networks.

About this title

About the Author

Alexander T. J. Lennon is the editor-in-chief of The Washington Quarterly, the flagship journal of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He is also a fellow in the international security program at CSIS, and an adjunct professor in Georgetown University's Security Studies program. He is the editor of The Epicenter of Crisis: The New Middle East; Reshaping Rogue States (MIT Press, 2008) : Preemption, Regime Change, and U.S. Policy Toward Iran, Iraq, and North Korea (MIT Press, 2004) ; The Battle for Hearts and Minds: Using Soft Power to Undermine Terrorist Networks (MIT Press, 2003) , What Does the World Want from America? and Contemporary Nuclear Debates (MIT Press, both 2002) , and the coeditor (with Michael T. Mazarr) of Toward a Nuclear Peace (St. Martin's Press, 1994).

Edition details

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262621797
• ISBN 13: 9780262621793
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352