Research Catalog

Title

Politics and strategy : partisan ambition and American statecraft / Peter Trubowitz.

Author

Trubowitz, Peter.

Publication

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, ©2011.

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Details

Description

xiv, 185 pages; 25 cm

Summary

• "Why do some national leaders pursue ambitious grand strategies and adventuresome foreign policies while others do not? When do leaders boldly confront foreign threats and when are they less assertive? Politics and Strategy shows that grand strategies are Janus-faced: their formulation has as much to do with a leader's ability to govern at home as it does with maintaining the nation's security abroad. Drawing on the American political experience, Peter Trubowitz reveals how variations in domestic party politics and international power have led presidents from George Washington to Barack Obama to pursue strategies that differ widely in international ambition and cost. He considers why some presidents overreach in foreign affairs while others fail to do enough.
• Trubowitz pushes the understanding of grand strategy beyond traditional approaches that stress only international forces or domestic interests. He provides insights into how past leaders responded to cross-pressures between geopolitics and party politics, and how similar issues continue to bedevil American statecraft today. He suggests that the trade-offs shaping American leaders' foreign policy choices are not unique--analogous trade-offs confront Chinese and Russian leaders as well."--Pub. desc.

Series Statement

Princeton studies in international history and politics

Uniform Title

Princeton studies in international history and politics.

Subjects

• United States
• Politics, Practical
• Strategic planning
• Political leadership
• Politics, Practical > United States
• Außenpolitik
• Strategie
• United States > Foreign relations > Decision making
• Politieke leiding
• Geopolitik
• Strategic planning > United States
• International relations > Decision making
• Security, International
• Buitenlandse politiek
• Political leadership > United States
• Geopolitics > United States
• Internationale veiligheid

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

1. Statesmen, partisans, and geopolitics. The two faces of grand strategy -- Statesmen as strategic politicians -- Grand strategy past and present -- 2. Grand strategy's microfoundations. Variations in grand strategy -- A model of executive choice -- Determinants of grand strategy -- Research design and outline -- 3. Why states appease their foes. The appeasement puzzle -- George Washington and the appeasement of Britain -- Abraham Lincoln, Britain, and the Confederacy -- Franklin Roosevelt, Hitler, and appeasement, 1936-1939 -- Appeasement reconsidered -- 4. When states expand. Theories of expansionism -- James Monroe, Republican factionalism, and the Monroe Doctrine -- William McKinley, Cuba, and the threat of domestic populism -- George W. Bush, September 11, and the promise of party realignment -- Expansionism : necessity or choice? -- 5. Why states underreach. Strategies of restraint -- Jacksonian fissures and Martin Van Buren's strategic adjustment -- Herbert Hoover, Republican sectarianism, and strategic retrenchment -- Bill Clinton, the Democrats, and selective engagement -- The paradox of strategic "underextension" -- 6. Statecraft's twin engines. American balancing in historical perspective -- Geopolitics and partisan politics : managing cross-pressure -- Secondary powers and nondemocracies -- Barack Obama and grand strategy.

Call Number

JFE 15-7560

ISBN

• 9780691149578
• 0691149577
• 9780691149585
• 0691149585

LCCN

2010039091

OCLC

664519651

Author

Trubowitz, Peter.

Title

Politics and strategy : partisan ambition and American statecraft / Peter Trubowitz.

Imprint

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, ©2011.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Princeton studies in international history and politics

Princeton studies in international history and politics.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Research Call Number

JFE 15-7560