Grand strategy and the presidency : foreign policy, war and the American role in the world / C. Dale Walton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Walton, C. Dale, 1971-

Series:

Cass series--strategy and history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Executive power.

History.

Presidents.

Strategic culture.

United States--Foreign relations--1989-.

United States.

International relations.

United States--Foreign relations administration.

Foreign relations administration.

Strategic culture--United States.

Presidents--United States--History--20th century.

Presidents--United States--History--21st century.

Executive power--United States--History--20th century.

Executive power--United States--History--21st century.

Physical Description:

x, 206 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Routledge, 2012.

Contents:

1 Beyond all expectations: the American rise to preeminence 14

Surviving: independence and state-building 15

Thriving: the early expansion of the republic 20

Slavery, territorial consolidation, and external conquest 22

A near-death experience: the Civil War 30

Holding fire: American reluctance to join the great powers 34

Titan: the new world arbiter of European politics 40

Conclusion 44

2 Victory disease: Cold War triumph and its aftermath 46

The Soviet challenge: the United States as protecting power 47

Erratic quality: the Cold War presidents and containment 51

Misadventures: Washington's Cold War errors considered 56

Plinking rats: an unimpressive hegemony 63

Conclusion 67

3 The slow drift: power without strategic clarity 69

History, again: the return of great power military competition 70

A too-narrow focus: the global war on terrorism in context 71

Risky inertia: the fixation on counterterrorism 79

Conclusion: crafting a grand strategy for a multipolar world 85

4 The decider: the importance of presidential greatness 87

Term-limited emperors: the presidency and foreign policy 88

For good or ill: the presidency and American strategic culture 90

Failure within the policy elite: the NSS example 95

Warlords: presidents as military leaders 100

Warning the warlord: public criticism as counsel 102

Conclusion 106

5 Feet of clay: making inadequate strategists and war leaders 108

Shutting the school: the decline of strategic education 108

A shallow pool: the strategic knowledge of potential presidents 112

Conclusion: the wrong questions 118

6 Lost wars, bleak peace: the tragedy of presidential weakness 120

Repeating errors: Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and beyond 120

Leveraging Mars: the uses and limits of military power 135

The flight from reality: threats, diplomacy, and strategic circularity 139

No longer alone: America in a world great power competition 143

Tyranny's rewards: America's great power competitors 149

Conclusion 153.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780415598323

041559832X

9780203126226

020312622X

OCLC:

751780706