Brendan Rittenhouse Green
Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2009–2011
Experience
Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2009–2011
Fall 2012
"Two Concepts of Liberty: U.S. Cold War Grand Strategies and the Liberal Tradition"
Journal Article, International Security, issue 2, volume 37
By Brendan Rittenhouse Green, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2009–2011
Contrary to conventional accounts, the United States did not immediately adopt a balancing strategy against the Soviet Union after World War II. Rather, the Eisenhower administration sought U.S. withdrawal from Western Europe by pursuing a buck-passing strategy. Only under the Kennedy administration did the United States begin to make permanent commitments to the defense of Europe. A new theory analyzes this shift in policy, defining those who sought to withdraw from Europe as “negative liberals” and those who sought firmer balancing commitments as “positive liberals.”
