Hendrickson takes issue with Walzer's treatment of intervention, self-determination, and the legitimate aims of war, stating that Walzer's framework is permissive and ambiguous and using such a just war theory may lead to significant problems.

Does multilateral action always succeed in creating a Pax Universalis? On the contrary, it may lead to war. With arguments from the U.S. perspective and examples from the Gulf War, Hendrickson sees both collective and unilateral action as neither good nor bad.

The most transparent prevarication in the Bush strategy lies in the assumption that the U.S. is in favor of a balance of power. In fact, the world order that Bush wishes to build looks not toward equilibrium but toward a massive imbalance of power in favor of the U.S.