Criticism[edit]
For Andrew Bacevich, "belief in the efficacy of military power almost inevitably breeds the temptation to put that power to work. 'Peace through strength' easily enough becomes 'peace through war.'"[32]
Jim George of Australian National University used the term to describe part of what he argued was the Straussian and neoconservative foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration.[33]
The mock inversion "strength through peace" has been used on occasion to draw criticism to the militaristic system of diplomacy advocated by "peace through strength".[34] Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich adopted the slogan "Strength Through Peace" during his 2008 presidential run as part of his platform as a peace candidate against the Iraq War.[35]
Trademark dispute[edit]
During Reagan's presidency, the non-profit American Security Council Foundation (ASCF) and its for-profit direct-mail provider, Communications Corporation of America, sought to influence United States foreign policy by promoting the idea, but after the Soviet collapse of 1991, ASCF fell into obscurity, and other organizations continued to promote the slogan.[36] The Heritage Foundation and the Center for Security Policy (CSP) have also used the term in print.[37] The ASCF registered a trademark for the phrase in April 2011.[38] In September 2012, ASCF filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against CSP and Frank Gaffney,[39] prompting the Washington City Paper to ridicule ASCF's Director of Operations, Gary James, for editing the online encyclopedia Wikipedia article titled 'Peace through strength' so that it was "drenched in ... ASCF references".[40] Following a counterclaim by the CSP alleging that the trademark application had been fraudulent, in August 2013 the ACSF announced that it had settled the lawsuit with the CSP and would cancel its trademark claim.[41]