The Legacy of George W. Bush's Foreign Policy: Moving beyond Neoconservatism / Edition 1

by Ilan Peleg

Overview

This volume incisively analyzes the foreign policy of George W. Bush. Examining the legacy of the forty-third President, author Ilan Peleg explains the complex factors underlying the Bush Doctrine: neoconservative ideology, real and perceived challenges to US world supremacy, Bush's personality, the White House's unique decision-making process, and the impact of September 11. Peleg argues that in its shift from deterrence and containment to prevention and preemption, from multilateral leadership to unilateral militarism, and from consensual realism to radical neoconservatism, the Bush administration has effected a true revolution in the foundational goals, as well as in the means, of US foreign policy. Peleg also offers a series of judicious recommendations for future administrations, including the reestablishment of a bipartisan consensus on foreign policy, increased emphasis on multilateralism, the demilitarization of US foreign policy, renewed focus on the resolution of serious regional conflicts, and more realistic expectations about noncoerced democratization around the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813344461
Publisher:	Westview Press
Publication date:	02/10/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	218
Sales rank:	685,173
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Ilan Peleg is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Government and Law at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. He is the editor-in-chief of Israel Studies Forum and author of several books, including the award-winning Human Rights in the West Bank and Gaza (1995) and the acclaimed Democratizing the Hegemonic State (2007).

Table of Contents

* 1. Introduction: Controversial Policy and Uncertain Future, 2001-2009 * 2. The Challenge to America and the World * 3. The Neoconservative Revolution: The Ideological Infrastructure of the Bush Doctrine * 4. The Personality of George W. Bush * 5. The Decision-Making Process: Past and Future * 6. Lessons for Future Presidents: America and the World Beyond Neoconservatism

Editorial Reviews

Despite its title, this book focuses more on the philosophy and personalities that shaped the Bush administration's foreign policy than on the consequences of those policies for future administrations. Labeling Bush's foreign policy "revolutionary" in its neoconservative aspirations, Peleg (Human Rights in the West Bank and Gaza ) sees the administration as breaking decisively from the philosophical orientation of previous post-cold war presidents. The author argues that the ascendancy of an "inexperienced and unknowledgeable" Bush, with the influential neoconservative Cheney at his side, led to this ideological turn, encapsulated in the strategic vision of the Bush Doctrine. Approaching Bush's foreign policy through the frame of the buildup to and aftermath of the Iraq War, Peleg draws on secondary sources to condemn Bush personally and explicitly for many of the failures of his administration, arguing the president lacked basic knowledge of and interest in foreign affairs, and labeling him arrogant and inflexible. Though the book has a straightforward structure, it sometimes feels like a repetitive retread before Peleg offers constructive strategic recommendations in its closing pages. (Mar.)

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