Developing a Security-Enhancing Strategy

The best way to increase US national security is to maximize the effectiveness of the correlates of peace rather than merely to maximize US military power. A synthesis of peace research and security studies identifies the main correlates as addressing all nations’ security fears; emphasizing human security no less than national security; entrenching positive reciprocity in all relationships; implementing equity in political, economic, and environmental affairs; expanding the rule of law in the international community; and building democratic global governance to enable formation and enforcement of laws essential for human security and institutionalizing peace. Replacing current US grand strategy for national security, advocated by political realists, with a global grand strategy for human security, recommended by empirical realists, is more likely to yield sustainable security with lasting peace, environmental protection, economic justice, and human rights for the United States and all nations. Extensive evidence confirms that such change is possible.