David L. Bosco on giving U.S. policy-makers a roadmap to a more restrained and sustainable foreign policy:
Charles Kupchan’s theory is that groups of states can move away from conflict and mistrust in several stages — the first being a state’s usually unilateral concession to its adversary, almost always driven by a strategic need. That concession is followed by a reciprocal gesture and joint statements, mediation mechanisms, and sometimes even formal rules that indicate a shared intention not to resort to force. Over time, the states may develop trust and view each other as benign. Given the right conditions, including compatible social orders and a sense of cultural kinship, accommodation may turn into full rapprochement and perhaps even to the formation of a security community or political union. At some point, conflict becomes impossible to imagine, and war departments stop crafting contingency plans for it.