Despite the disparity of views among the authors, three themes
emerge. First, military power has declined in importance in international
politics.2 For some this means that military threats are less prevalent,
while for others it means that military force is less useful as a tool
of statecraft. Second, there is a need to reexamine the way we think
about international relations and national security. 3 For some this need
stems from the changed circumstances of the post-cold war world; for
others it grows out of the collective failure of scholars to anticipate either
the timing or the nature of the end of the cold war. And third,
there is a need for a broader view of national security (see especially the
essays by Schelling and Peterson, in Allison and Treverton). For some
this means including domestic problems on the national security
agenda; for others it means treating nonmilitary external threats to national
well-being as security issues.