Alexandra Homolar, The Uncertainty Doctrine: Narrative Politics and the US Hard Power after the Cold War – Cambridge University Press, October 2023

The post-Cold War era is often seen as a missed opportunity of epic proportions for the United States to turn swords into ploughshares, with much of the blame placed on international developments. The Uncertainty Doctrine challenges the conventional take on post-Cold War history as imposed on the US by events largely outside its control. It shows in rich empirical detail how America’s ‘peace dividend’ did not merely fall by the wayside but was actively undermined by the narrative contests over the security implications of the New World Order. Committed to understanding the ontological significance of narrative in (inter)national security, Alexandra Homolar demonstrates that political agents have the capacity to respond to a systemic shock through discursive adaptation and reorganization. While narrative politics may not always matter in US defense policy, at moments perceived as bifurcation points it can be decisive in why some strategic responses prevail over possible alternatives.

‘A deeply impressive and sustained disquisition on one of the most vexed and contentious areas of study: US foreign policy since the end of the cold war. This is a work brimming with ideas and arguments: it deserves a large audience and to become a seminal scholarly text.’

Timothy J. Lynch – Professor of American Politics, the University of Melbourne