The big stick

A scholar of international relations outlines compelling arguments in favor of America's enduring relevance and why an active military presence is essential to preserving and enforcing the nation's foreign policies. "'Speak softly and carry a big stick,' Theodore Roosevelt famously said in 1901, when the United States was emerging as a great power. It was the right sentiment, perhaps, in an age of imperial rivalry, but today many Americans doubt the utility of their global military presence, thinking it outdated, unnecessary or even dangerous. In The Big Stick, Eliot A. Cohen--a scholar and…