Politics and Strategy
Partisan Ambition and American Statecraft
1st Edition
Published on 19. November 2018
200 pages
978-1-4008-3880-6 (ISBN)
Description
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.
Combining innovative theory and historical analysis, Politics and Strategy answers classic questions of statecraft and offers new ideas for thinking about grand strategies and the leaders who make them.
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.
Combining innovative theory and historical analysis, Politics and Strategy answers classic questions of statecraft and offers new ideas for thinking about grand strategies and the leaders who make them.
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04/2011
Princeton University Press
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Person
Peter Trubowitz is professor of government at the University of Texas, Austin. He is the author of Defining the National Interest.
Content
List of Tables and Figures xi
Preface and Acknowledgments xiii
Chapter One: Introduction 1
Statesmen, Partisans, and Geopolitics The Two Faces of Grand Strategy 2
Statesmen as Strategic Politicians 4
Grand Strategy Past and Present 7
Chapter Two: Grand Strategy's Microfoundations 9
Variations in Grand Strategy 9
A Model of Executive Choice 16
Determinants of Grand Strategy 31
Research Design and Outline 37
Chapter Three: Why States Appease Their Foes 44
The Appeasement Puzzle 44
George Washington and the Appeasement of Britain 46
Abraham Lincoln, Britain, and the Confederacy 55
Franklin Roosevelt, Hitler, and Appeasement, 1936-1939 64
Appeasement Reconsidered 74
Chapter Four: When States Expand 77
Theories of Expansionism 77
James Monroe, Republican Factionalism, and the Monroe Doctrine 79
William McKinley, Cuba, and the Threat of Domestic Populism 90
George W. Bush, September 11, and the Promise of Party Realignment 97
Expansionism: Necessity or Choice? 104
Chapter Five: Why States Underreach 106
Strategies of Restraint 107
Jacksonian Fissures and Martin Van Buren's Strategic Adjustment 108
Herbert Hoover, Republican Sectarianism, and Strategic Retrenchment 114
Bill Clinton, the Democrats, and Selective Engagement 120
The Paradox of Strategic "Underextension" 127
Chapter Six: Conclusion 129
Statecraft's Twin Engines American Balancing in Historical Perspective 130
Geopolitics and Partisan Politics: Managing Cross-Pressure 132
Secondary Powers and Nondemocracies 139
Barack Obama and Grand Strategy 145
References 151
Index 177
Preface and Acknowledgments xiii
Chapter One: Introduction 1
Statesmen, Partisans, and Geopolitics The Two Faces of Grand Strategy 2
Statesmen as Strategic Politicians 4
Grand Strategy Past and Present 7
Chapter Two: Grand Strategy's Microfoundations 9
Variations in Grand Strategy 9
A Model of Executive Choice 16
Determinants of Grand Strategy 31
Research Design and Outline 37
Chapter Three: Why States Appease Their Foes 44
The Appeasement Puzzle 44
George Washington and the Appeasement of Britain 46
Abraham Lincoln, Britain, and the Confederacy 55
Franklin Roosevelt, Hitler, and Appeasement, 1936-1939 64
Appeasement Reconsidered 74
Chapter Four: When States Expand 77
Theories of Expansionism 77
James Monroe, Republican Factionalism, and the Monroe Doctrine 79
William McKinley, Cuba, and the Threat of Domestic Populism 90
George W. Bush, September 11, and the Promise of Party Realignment 97
Expansionism: Necessity or Choice? 104
Chapter Five: Why States Underreach 106
Strategies of Restraint 107
Jacksonian Fissures and Martin Van Buren's Strategic Adjustment 108
Herbert Hoover, Republican Sectarianism, and Strategic Retrenchment 114
Bill Clinton, the Democrats, and Selective Engagement 120
The Paradox of Strategic "Underextension" 127
Chapter Six: Conclusion 129
Statecraft's Twin Engines American Balancing in Historical Perspective 130
Geopolitics and Partisan Politics: Managing Cross-Pressure 132
Secondary Powers and Nondemocracies 139
Barack Obama and Grand Strategy 145
References 151
Index 177
