In Why America Can’t Retrench (And How It Might), Peter Harris suggests that America’s worldwide posture is less a strategic choice than a default ingrained in its DNA, where an imperial presidency, a sprawling military-industrial complex, and a political culture punishing perceived weaknesses perpetuate the status quo. Harris is a non-resident fellow at Defense Priorities and an associate professor of political science at Colorado State University. With an impressive synthesis of historical context and institutional critique, he explores why any pullback from the US’ military primacy is almost unthinkable within the current political structure. He observes that Americans rarely get to choose from a true range of options on foreign policy.
The US expanded in six waves, beginning with the annexation of islands in the Caribbean and Pacific, followed by acquisitions like the Philippines and involvement in World War I. World War II and the Cold War saw further surges in US influence, with the establishment of a vast, enduring military presence across Europe, Asia, and beyond to counter global threats. Since 1990, this expanded empire has driven ambitious NATO growth, the ‘forever wars’ in the Middle East, and a strategic pivot to the Indo-Pacific in pursuit of global hegemony. Harris illustrates how the nationalist fevers after external shocks like Pearl Harbor and 9/11 fueled an insatiable war state.
The US has consistently expanded its global reach, steadily increasing its overseas commitments. Moments of withdrawal – like from the Philippines, Vietnam and Afghanistan – were more than offset by increased interventionism elsewhere. Over 165 years, growing US influence abroad has created a pronounced, if nonlinear, trend of expansionism. Harris demonstrates that the US’ “immense forward presence is a holdover from the World War II and Cold War eras, when US military personnel were sent in their millions to defeat fascism and then deter communist expansion”. The militarization of American society has created a self-reinforcing system that makes meaningful retrenchment nearly impossible.
Harris critically examines how entrenched military primacy has eroded checks and balances on the the executive branch and prioritized exorbitantly costly war capacities over the welfare of Americans. His in-depth analysis exposes how deeply militarization is woven into the fabric of US governance. With more than three million employees the Department of Defense is the world’s largest employer. Upon the Soviet Union’s collapse, the US had an opportunity to scale back its military role abroad, yet troop reductions occurred only in Europe, countered by NATO expansion and involvement in the Yugoslav Wars. Harris writes: “Over 800 overseas bases, approximately 170,000 active-duty military personnel deployed in more than eighty countries and territories (plus in excess of a million stationed at home), a defense budget surpassing $850 billion, and treaty-based alliances with more than one quarter of the world’s states – none of these statistics makes obvious sense in the absence of an existential threat to national security.”
Its overambitious strategic posture – unique among world powers – requires the US to maintain overwhelming military advantages in every world region. As the international system shifts toward multi-polarity and rising powers like China and Russia challenge US dominance, such a posture becomes increasingly dangerous.
Harris demonstrates that the US has configured much of its public sector around projecting power abroad, positioning military primacy as the backbone of its identity. The “global garrison state” is build on corruption at home. In 2015, RAND researchers found the Army invested roughly $121 million per year in the average congressional district, supporting about 4,200 jobs, creating strong support for high defense spending as communities depend on the military for economic stability. The book examines how hawkish political elites form a symbiotic relationship with corporate media, influential think tanks, the arms industry, foreign policy lobbies and powerful business interests.
Harris discusses how some advocates of US global dominance push an expansive, vague vision of global security, while others emphasize values like democracy, women’s rights or free markets. The result is “a limitless range of dimensions along which the United States wants to order the rest of the world”. Harris critiques a pernicious form of American universal irredentism, which “posits the entire unfree world as unredeemed and awaiting liberation.” This arrogant mindset echoes the paternalistic hubris of past European colonial powers, who claimed to bring civilization to the so-called ‘barbarians’. “All peoples languishing under the yolk of authoritarianism are deserving of incorporation into the US-led, enlightened, and ‘civilized’ international order.” This nearly sacrosanct narrative “helps to justify the gargantuan and neverending series of military interventions.”
Harris outlines a dual vision for deep reform through “domestic renewal” and “internationalism anew.” His proposals for strengthening congressional oversight, reshaping the two-party system into a more representative democracy, and increasing transparency in foreign policy decision-making are particularly relevant for those seeking a more peaceful foreign policy. He envisions offshore balancing as a grand strategy of “leading from behind” where the US provides military and economic support to allies, empowering them to manage their own regional security. The core idea is to shift the primary defense responsibility to allies who have a more immediate stake in their regions.
Harris advocates greater political pluralism, a shift from military primacy to diplomacy and multilateralism and a dramatic downsizing of the largely unaccountable military-industrial complex with its “vast army of technocrats whose expertise is geared toward the management of violence”. The book lays out a framework for a United States that engages the world through partnership rather than dominance.
Harris delves into the perspectives of critics across the political spectrum: left-wing, conservative, libertarian, and realist, arguing that they might find enough common ground to form alliances capable of challenging the status quo. He believes “anti-primacy groups are tangible, well-established, and perhaps growing.” Only radical reforms in US politics, he contends, can allow critical voices that have been marginalized since America’s entry into World War II to gain a foothold within state institutions.
Harris advises the retrenchment movement to root its arguments in American values and patriotism rather than casting the US solely as an imperial oppressor – an image likely to alienate the wider public. This approach may also explain why he refrains from detailing US atrocities in his book. Although he recognizes that US interventions breed anger and resentment globally, he doesn’t discuss the vast toll of innocent lives lost to these actions, which drive the cycles of violence. Moral outrage over war crimes has powered effective anti-war movements from Vietnam to Iraq to Gaza, and most Americans strongly oppose their government committing crimes in their name. A prudent approach for the retrenchment camp would balance the love of country with an honest reckoning of the US empire’s dark side.
Harris’ essential book offers a pragmatic blueprint for a more democratic and thriving America that spreads its values globally, choosing diplomacy over force.
You can find Michael’s interviews with Jeffrey Sachs, Trita Parsi, Scott Horton and other antiwar voices on his author’s page for NachDenkSeiten — the videos are in English!
