When America fights : the uses of U.S. military force / Donald M. Snow.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : Military force in the post-Cold War environment. Policy disarray -- Toward a new first principle -- The structure of the book and of the argument -- 1. Policy adrift : The causes of inertia in national security policy -- The contemporary environment -- The new environment : a world of tiers -- The paradigm problem -- 2. Thinking about strategy in a new environment : The factors conditioning strategy -- Strategic orientations : the U.S. self-perception -- Conclusion -- 3. The menu of violence : Employments of necessity -- Employments of choice -- Conclusion -- 4. The dilemmas of involvement : Reasons for the lack of consensus -- The nature of peacekeeping operations and possible outcomes -- Realistic actions : conflict suppression or state building -- The operational level -- Conclusion -- 5. Peace games? : Contemporary influences on grand strategy -- A strategy of realistic internationalism -- Guidelines for intervening in internal wars -- Precipitating factors -- Minimum conditions for approving intervention -- Conditions for a successful operation -- Institutional adjustments -- Conclusion -- Appendix A. UN Resolution 1244 (1999) -- Appendix B. Kosovo chronology -- Appendix C. Select UN and NATO peacekeeping deployments.