National Security in the Obama Administration: Reassessing the Bush Doctrine [Paperback]

Stanley A. Renshon (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415804051 | ISBN-13: 978-0415804059 | Publication Date: September 4, 2009

The Bush Doctrine is dead! At least that’s what critics hope. But while new U.S. national security challenges emerge, many post-9/11 threats still persist and the policies of George W. Bush offer one set of strategic answers for how President Obama can confront those dangers. Neither a polemic nor a whitewash, this book provides a careful analysis of the Bush Doctrine—its development, application, and rationale—and assesses its legacy: How will Obama respond to the many foreign policy challenges that await him?

Through an examination of psychology as much as policy, Renshon gives us the first comparative analysis of the Bush Doctrine and the developing Obama Doctrine. The book analyzes the range of national security issues Obama will face and the political divisions that permeate U.S. national security debates. It is essential reading for anyone looking to understand how presidents assess security risks generally and how Obama specifically is likely to adapt the Bush Doctrine to his own worldview.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Bush Doctrine is more condemned than understood, let alone defended, and Stanley Renshon not only does this but makes clear that most of the critics have failed to come to grips with the real and pressing problems that will confront the Obama administration. With strong arguments and a penetrating view of the world, this is a stimulating and important book."
—Robert Jervis, Columbia University

"National Security in the Obama Administration is a serious, fascinating, and timely account of the Bush Doctrine, its legacy, and its implications for the Obama administration's unfolding foreign policy."
—Robert Kagan, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

"Stanley Renshon’s book transcends the bitterly polarized and all too often unedifying foreign policy debates that characterized much of the presidency of George W. Bush. In this important new work, he not only provides a welcome reassessment of the Bush Doctrine, but explains how external threats and pressing foreign policy challenges shape the choices of the Obama administration. While major alterations of style and method are evident in Obama foreign policy, changes in substance and doctrine appear to be far less pronounced. Renshon’s important new book illuminates the reasons why."
—Robert J. Lieber, Georgetown University

"Dr. Renshon’s psychoanalysis of the Bush Doctrine is a useful set of guidelines to understand the state of U.S. foreign policy during President Obama’s first few months in office. In reflecting on recent events, his words are fairly prescient as the emerging Obama doctrine continues to take form."
—Daniel W. Opstal, American Intelligence Journal, Vol 29 No 1

About the Author

Stanley A. Renshon is a Professor of Political Science at the City University of New York Graduate Center. He is the author of over ninety articles and fourteen books and is a certified psychoanalyst.

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (September 4, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415804051
• ISBN-13: 978-0415804059
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #925,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stanley Renshon is professor of political science and coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Program in the Psychology of Social and Political behavior at the City University of New York Graduate Center. He is also a certified psychoanalyst.

He is the author of over 90 professional articles and 15 books including his psychological biography of the Clinton presidency--High Hopes: The Clinton Presidency and the Politics of Ambition, won the 1997 American Political Science Association's Richard E. Neustadt Award for the best book published on the presidency and the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis' Gradiva Award for the best published work in the category of biography. His psychological analysis of George W. Bush and his presidency entitled, In his Father's Shadow: The Transformations of George W. Bush was published by Palgrave/St. Martins press in the fall of 2004.

He has served as a consultant to the government on matters of national security including issues of immigration and national attachment and leadership assessment and decision-making.

He has been interviewed and quoted in a large number of newspapers for stories dealing with the presidency, public psychology, leadership, and immigration [including: The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, and others]. He has appeared a number of times on CNN, CBS, Fox News, NBC, and has also frequently been a guest on public affairs news radio programs nationally (NPR, CBS news, Newsweek- week in review) and internationally (Voice of America, Australian National Radio, Canadian National Radio and the BBC).