U.S. Foreign Policy Today
American Renewal?
- Steven W. Hook - Kent State University, USA
- James M. Scott - Texas Christian University
This new contributed volume from Steven Hook and James Scott introduces students to the conduct of foreign policy under the Obama administration. Its twelve original essays, written by a stellar cast of experts in the field, address whether the Obama administration’s strategy represents a “renewal” of U.S. engagement. To what extent has this administration succeeded in building both the domestic and international constituencies needed to implement its foreign policy goals? How exactly have Obama’s policies regarding drone strikes, prisoner abuse, extraordinary rendition, and climate change differed from Bush-era policies? Contributors provide detailed assessments of these and many other key questions.
Designed to fit easily into courses on U.S. foreign policy, the volume’s first part looks at policy formulation, while the second part tackles policy domains. An extensive bibliography makes a great student resource for further research.
This book arrives at a time when the U.S. is reassessing its
role in the world after the optimism of the 1990s, the shock of 9/11,
and the ongoing challenges of a global economic downturn and two
lingering wars. Its well-selected contributors assess not only the key
foreign policy actors and issues two years into the Obama Presidency,
but the enduring institutional, political, and international constraints
that make it difficult for any President to carry out foreign policies
that enjoy bipartisan support at home and success abroad. In so doing it
provides a valuable resource for courses on the policy-making processes
and substantive issues of contemporary American foreign policy
Not since Abraham Lincoln entered the White House in 1861 has
an incoming president inherited such a daunting agenda as Barack Obama:
Two costly wars and an economy beset by the worst crisis since the
Depression. The thoughtful essays in this excellent volume guide the
reader through the domestic constraints his “renewal agenda” has
confronted and provide an interim report on his achievements in various
policy domains. This is essential background reading for understanding
foreign policy during the second half of Obama’s term
This anthology by Hook and Scott is as fine a collection of
original articles on foreign policy during the initial years of the
Obama Administration as one can find. The authors are an all-star line
up of foreign and security policy experts, and the topics cover the
waterfront. The set would serve as an excellent complement to a foreign
policy text, or could stand on its own, for courses on this subject.
Among the anthology's many virtues is a premium on lucid prose and the
presence of a theme—an evaluation of America's relations abroad in the
last few years under President Obama—that bind the essays together
US Foreign Policy Today brings together leading scholars
to puzzle through whether Obama can achieve the improbable renewal of
American liberal internationalism. This is an indispensable guidebook
for understanding the obstacles and opportunities in the American
political system that work against the lofty and traditional foreign
policy goals articulated so well by Obama. This volume arrives in the
nick of time to help us make sense of foreign policy in this age of
sharp domestic disunity.
Steven Hook, James Scott and a collection of top-notch analysts
have given us a careful, balanced assessment of Obama Administration
foreign policy at mid-term. Required reading for those analyzing foreign
policy in a divided America
Essential for students of area studies.
This is a coherent edited volume that gathers the leading scholars of US foreign policy examining the key challenges faced by the Obama administration. I highly recommend it for its accessibility, analytical depth, and comprehensiveness.
An excellent review of the first term foreign policy of the Obama administration from an impressive collection of world class scholars.