Armed State Building: Confronting State Failure, 1898-2012 (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)
"In this excellent study, Miller brings to bear scholarly rigor and his recent experience as the U.S. National Security Council's director for Afghanistan and Pakistan to assess U.S. and UN efforts to rebuild failed states through armed intervention. Drawing on evidence from such missions in Germany after World War II and more recent attempts in Nicaragua, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, Miller argues there is no master strategy that will work in all instances. . . . His book displays an admirable clarity in its evidence and analysis, although it is worth wondering whether powerful Western states can reliably behave as carefully as Miller advises."—G. John Ikenberry,Foreign Affairs(January/February 2014)"Armed State Buildingis an unusually successful blend of scholarship and practical experience. Paul D. Miller's work is innovative and his conclusions sound. This book makes a major contribution to the study of counterinsurgency and postconflict stabilization and will appeal to policymakers and military strategists."—James Dobbins, Director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center, RAND National Defense Research Institute, former Assistant Secretary of State for Europe, Special Assistant to the President, and Ambassador to the European Community"Paul D. Miller's tough-minded, rigorously argued analysis of state failure and state rebuilding shatters standard policy shibboleths and challenges us to rethink appropriate responses to outlaw regimes."—Robert I. Rotberg, Harvard Kennedy School, author ofTransformative Political Leadership: Making a Difference in the Developing World