Points of Order

FOREIGN-POLICY experts take it for granted that, with the Cold War over, we live in an era of unprecedented novelty.

In the November Foreign Affairs, Leslie H. Gelb wrote eloquently about the proliferation of “teacup wars” (Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti): “wars of national debilitation, a steady run of uncivil civil wars sundering fragile but functioning nation-states and gnawing at the well-being of stable nations.” For Gelb, these are more important than the classical problem of relations among the major powers, which are basically in good shape.

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Peter W. Rodman

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FOREIGN-POLICY experts take it for granted that, with the Cold War over, we live in an era of unprecedented novelty.

In the November Foreign Affairs, Leslie H. Gelb wrote eloquently about the proliferation of “teacup wars” (Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti): “wars of national debilitation, a steady run of uncivil civil wars sundering fragile but functioning nation-states and gnawing at the well-being of stable nations.” For Gelb, these are more important than the classical problem of relations among the major powers, which are basically in good shape.