Presidential Doctrines

U.S. National Security from George Washington to Barack Obama

By (author) Joseph M. Siracusa, Aiden Warren

Not available to order

Publication date:

26 July 2016

Length of book:

274 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781442267473

This book assesses and evaluates the key U.S. presidential doctrines from Washington to Obama. It demonstrates that in spite of differences between successive administrations, in most instances, presidential doctrines have articulated both the responses and directions conducive to an international order that best advances American interests: a composition encompassing “democracy,” open free markets, self-determining states that adhere to U.S. principles, and a secure global environment in which U.S. goals can be pursued (ideally) unimpeded. This is manifest through such policy goals as containment, interventionism, engagement, de-entanglement, and securing the region. Also, it shows that the current dilemmas facing the U.S. are a continuation of perennial policy challenges, from Washington’s warning to steer clear of permanent alliances, to George Bush’s radical doctrine of prevention and pre-emption and Obama’s “reluctant realist” doctrine. In navigating and assessing the key presidential doctrines, the book explains both the individual and defining themes American presidents have embodied in their respective doctrines in attempting to meet national interest goals. Ultimately, it shows that although each doctrine was formulated in reaction to immediate foreign policy concerns, each also addressed fundamental aspects of U.S. national security that led future statesmen to follow their broad objectives and prescriptions.

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations/Acronyms
Introduction
Chapter 1: Non-Entangling Alliances
Chapter 2: Securing the Region
Chapter 3: The Seeds of Democracy Promotion
Chapter 4: The New Terrain: Containing the ‘Outside’
Chapter 5: Maintaining the ‘Outside’Chapter 6: Variations and Continuities in Cold War ApproachesChapter 7: Prevention for the 21^st CenturyChapter 8: Pragmatic Realism and the Use-of-forceConclusionBibliography

Siracusa and Warren evaluate the key American presidential foreign policy doctrines from George Washington to Barack Obama. They argue that the articulation of American foreign policy through doctrines represented by speeches and documents, including ‘National Security Strategies,’ has been apparent in every presidential administration. Throughout their historical analysis, the authors focus on the conflicting desires to be a leader in world affairs while avoiding foreign entanglements, highlighting Washington’s ‘Farewell Address,’ the Monroe Doctrine, and containment, among other presidential doctrines. The book places current foreign policy debates between internationalism and isolationism within the historical context and contemporary challenges. The book’s strongest insight is its linking of the past and the present and the demonstration that key presidential doctrines are formulated in reaction to current foreign policy interests and challenges as well as within broader historical trends. Moreover, the authors argue that policy makers use these doctrines to advance American interests and objectives throughout the world, including democracy and open markets. The book should be of great interest to scholars and students of American foreign policy and American history. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.