How Enemies Become Friends.

• Author: Nicholson, Mark E.
• Position: Book review

In his book How Enemies Become Friends, Georgetown University professor and former Clinton Administration NSC staff member Charles Kupchan seeks to answer two questions: what are the step-by-step processes by which nations bilaterally or multilaterally construct lasting bonds of peace (defined as ranging from durable rapprochement to actual federation or union), and what are the pre-conditions for the success of such efforts. The book is highly relevant as a "how to" guide for the construction of conflict-free zones, even as it is realistic in suggesting at least implicitly that the conditions necessary for such zones may be more the exception than the rule in much of today's world. Kupchan's book thus is idealistic in its goals but tempered by pragmatism, perhaps reflecting its author's background as both an academic and a practitioner of foreign policy.

That dual background is similarly reflected in the book's style and approach. Kupchan opens with a jargon-filled review of past academic and theoretical literature bearing on the issue, and then proceeds to lay out his own answers in the form of a model. The bulk of the book then is devoted to a wide-ranging set of case studies of both successful and unsuccessful efforts at rapprochement, formal rule-bound security communities, and actual unions of sovereign states, in light of whose experiences Kupchan seeks to support and fine-tune his conclusions.

The result of this overall structure, and of the "summary/details/conclusions" structure of each of the case studies chapters and even of the individual cases within them, is a considerable degree of repetition, which is not helped by the prose, best described as workmanlike. This is not an elegant or sprightly read. But the opposite side of that coin is that the prose is crystal-clear and free of the Hegelian-like obscurities that sometimes tempt academics. In that clarity, if not in concision, the book resembles the memos Kupchan had to write for President Clinton while serving in the NSC as a European Affairs Director. The constant re-stating of conclusions supported by a broad range of case studies also underlines that this is not a book of disembodied theory but a persuasive distilling of lessons drawn from a great deal of on-the-ground observation.

So what are those conclusions? Diplomats will be heartened, because Kupchan posits that the process of building conflict-free zones invariably begins with diplomacy--normally impelled by an...