Making War to Keep Peace

In her final work, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick - ambassador to the United Nations under Reagan and a legend in international relations - offers a bold revisionist survey of two decades of American foreign policy. Since the end of the Cold War, she argues, America's relationship with the U.N. has fractured, marred by mutual distrust, competing agendas, and continuing uncertainty over U.S. involvement with rogue nations.

Kirkpatrick analyzes the shift from the first Bush administration's vision of a New World Order to the nation-building efforts of the Clinton administration in Somalia and Haiti. Kirkpatrick offers a strong critique of Clinton's foreign policy, arguing that his administration developed a risky reliance on the United Nations. But she also questions when, how, and why the United States should resort to military solutions, especially in light of the challenging war in Iraq, about which Kirkpatrick shares her "grave reservations" here for the first time.

In this powerful book, Kirkpatrick explores where we have gone wrong, and raises lingering questions about what perils tomorrow might hold.

Jeane J. Kirkpatrick (1926 - 2006) was the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 1981 to 1985, and a member of the National Security Council during the Reagan Administration. She was also a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, the founder of Empower America, and a professor of government at Georgetown University. She died in December 2006.

"With clear and compelling argument, Jeane Kirkpatrick teaches us to be strong but careful in the use of force. Readable and instructive, as she always is."

- George P. Shultz, former Secretary of State