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Article: Force Divider: How military technology makes the United States even more unilateral. (Argument).
- Article from:
- Foreign Policy
- Article date:
- January 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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When critics fault the United States for its tendency to launch unilateral military actions, they usually blame cultural and historical factors or simple power politics. But increasingly, another factor lies behind this independent streak: technology. Especially in the realms of air and space, the United States so outstrips its allies that technology actually inhibits effective military cooperation with allies and friends, exposing the United States to more strident global criticism and leading to an increasingly unhealthy division of labor. The conduct of the campaign in Afghanistan promises to make that problem worse, not better.
The United States bears an ...