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America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy Hardcover – September 30, 2003
| Ivo H. Daalder (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
| James M. Lindsay (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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George W. Bush has launched a revolution in American foreign policy. He has redefined how America engages the world, shedding the constraints that friends, allies, and international institutions impose on its freedom of action. He has insisted that an America unbound is a more secure America. How did a man once mocked for knowing little about the world come to be a foreign policy revolutionary? In America Unbound, Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay dismiss claims that neoconservatives have captured the heart and mind of the president. They show that George W. Bush has been no one's puppet. He has been a strong and decisive leader with a coherent worldview that was evident even during the 2000 presidential campaign. Daalder and Lindsay caution that the Bush revolution comes with significant risks. Raw power alone is not enough to preserve and extend America's security and prosperity in the modern world. The United States often needs the help of others to meet the challenges it faces overseas. But Bush's revolutionary impulse has stirred great resentment abroad. At some point, Daalder and Lindsay warn, Bush could find that America's friends and allies refuse to follow his lead. America will then stand alonea great power unable to achieve its most important goals.
- Print length246 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBrookings Institution Press
- Publication dateSeptember 30, 2003
- Dimensions6.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches
- ISBN-100815716885
- ISBN-13978-0815716884
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Editorial Reviews
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Review
"As Ivo Daalder and James Lindsay say in their new book, America Unbound, the move to a doctrine of pre-emption or preventive war is a true revolution in American foreign policy, despite its roots in the foreign policies of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson" Gerald Beller, West Virginia State College, The Charleston Gazette, 2/10/2004
"... a reasoned, well-documented analysis of the origins and evolution of the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration.... This book seems written for a mass audience.... Recommended." C.W. Herrick, Muhlenberg College, Choice, 6/1/2004
"Mr. Bush is widely seen, abroad if not at home, as a bonehead with more brawn than brain who has little control over his administration, especially of the neoconservatives who seem to exert such influence within it. This view is rubbish, argue Ivo Daalder and James Lindsay, both scholars at American think-tanks. Mr. Bush is his own man; he sees himself as the chief executive officer of a huge enterprise and acts accordingly; he has a world view and a clear idea of how america should fit into it; and he is no fool." The Economist, 12/20/2003
"So what, one might ask. Has the US not put Saddam Hussein in prison and forced Colonel Muammer Gadaffi to abandon his programme for making weapons of mass destruction? Indeed, it has. Force works. But it will not, on its own, achieve the democratic transformation the US now seeks. As Ivo Daalder and James M. Lindsay argue in an important study of the administration's foreign policy: 'The Iraq experience underscored that how America led mattered as much as whether it led.'" Martin Wolf, Financial Times, 12/24/2003
"AMERICA UNBOUND is the most ambitious and important study in this batch, not least because the authors painstakingly develop the provocative thesis that the president is not the Dubya of cartoonists, a dim puppet of a cabal of old-guard hawks and neocons, but the master puppeteer himself....The research is admirable, the arguments are well marshaled, and the absence of stridency adds considerable authority to the portrayal of Bush as a president whose 'worldview simply made no allowance for others' doubting the purity of American motives.'" Serge Schmemann, International Herald Tribune, The New York Times Book Review, 1/25/2004
"Reprint of The Washington Times/UPI article." Martin Sieff, United Press International, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 12/28/2003
"Reprint of The Washington Times article." Martin Sieff, United Press International, United Press International, 12/26/2003
"[A] lucid and concise account of what the authors call 'the Bush revolution' in foreign affairs....It is doubtful that another book will come along soon that covers all the important points of the administrations's foreign policy with more clarity and evenhandedness." Joshua Micah Marshall, Foreign Affairs, 11/1/2003
"Daalder and Lindsay argue that despite the lack of knowledge about foreign policy Bush revealed during the 2000 campaign, his views are well formed and held with deep conviction....[They] conclude that the Bush revolution is only a partial one, and is best understood as changing the way the United States conducts foreign policy, not the goals of foreign policy." Alan Wolfe, Boston College, Commonweal, 12/5/2003
"As Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay argue cogently in their new book America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in American Foreign Policy, the Iraq policy and the whole unilateralist and pre-empt strategy doctrine that underlay it were not forced on a weak, inexperienced and vacillating president by dominant figures pulling his strings. These policies were eagerly adopted by a gung-ho, supremely confident president who was convinced he had the broad picture right and who sees the world in uncompromising Manichean terms of black and white, right and wrong." Martin Sieff, United Press International, Washington Times, 12/26/2003
"Daalder's and Lindsay's great art is to independently describe rather than to blindly defend." Robert Lincoln, Richmond Times Dispatch, 1/18/2004
"Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay, former U.S. National Security Council advisers, won the $15,000 prize for America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy (Brookings Institution Press)." The Canadian Press, 3/2/2004
"Clinton advisors win prize for book on Bush policy." The Toronto Star, 3/3/2004
"I would not have imagined that two former Clinton staffers could write such a detached and richly textured book about Bush foreign policy. AMERICA UNBOUND is refreshingly original and it makes the case for President Bush as the master of his own unilateralist revolution. Future examinations of Bush foreign policy will be measured against this authoritative book. " Daniel Schorr, senior news analyst, National Public Radio
"Daalder and Lindsay have done an excellent job of chronicling history in the making, and of doing so soberly, with insight rather than vitrol." Laura Secor, The American Prospect, 4/1/2004
"A stirring and thought-provoking exhortation of President George W. Bush as a bringer of global change, America Unbound is strongly recommended reading for political conservatives, political commentators, and students of contemporary American politics as reflected by the Bush Administration as it engages in a global war against international terrorism." The Bookwatch, 3/1/2004
"A useful analysis...Their emphasis is less on the shift to preventive war than on the administration's doctrinaire analysis and its moralistic arrogance." Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., New York Review of Books, 10/23/2003
"Reprint of NYT review" James Chace, New York Times, San Antonio Express-News, 1/4/2004
"Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay are co-authors of America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foriegn Policy, which won the 2003 Lionel Gelber Prize for the best book on international relations." Ivo Daalder and James Lindsay, The Globe and Mail, 3/26/2004
"...an illuminating book on the Bush revolution and the doctrine of unilateral intervention and pre-emptive war." James Chace, New York Times, International Herald Tribune, 12/20/2003
"...a splendidly illuminating book on the 'Bush Revolution' and the doctrine of unilateral intervention and pre-emptive war. Buttressed by extensive research, the authors demonstrate convincingly that Mr. Bush is not the puppet of the vice president or the Defense Department hawks. He has fundamental beliefs that have reversed America's six-decade commitment to internationalism." The New York Times
"Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay, two alumni of the Clinton Administration's National Security Council, have given us a very useful -- and strikingly even-handed -- synopsis of President Bush's foreign policies.... America Unbound is a good book, well worth reading." Geoffrey Riklin, Intellectualconservative.com, 3/1/2004
"AMERICA UNBOUND is a thorough and learned account of how Bush has handled international relations....It is written in a brisk, engaging style that one does not automatically associate with Washington think tanks." Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune, Reason, 2/1/2004
"Listed among the top-selling American foreign policy and international affairs books with the #13 position." Foreign Affairs, 3/31/2004
"Exhaustively documented... this book by two Clinton administration National security Council staffers, is a readable, balanced, and concise work that explains the present administration's theory behind the practice. These two authors, who know as much about how foreign policy is translated into action as anyone, have accomplished an empirical analysis of the actions and statements of President Bush and his advisers, discovering and articulating the worldviews behind their decicions.... America Unbound is, ultimately, a criticism of President Bush's policies, his foreign policy unilateralism in particular.... The authors base their case... on the position that the complex foreign policy goals now confronting America cannot be solved with a 'go it alone' policy." David Marquet, U.S. Navy, Naval War College Review, 4/1/2004
"Of all the books that expound the New Look in U.S. foreign policy, America Unbound has been rightly acclaimed as the best. The research is thorough; analysis is incisive, and the approach fair to the point of being generous to Bush. That makes their criticism of Bush all the more telling. Their careful record of the policy debate alone serves to make the book a reliable work of reference." A.G. Noorani, Frontline, 12/3/2004
"Amidst a flood of literature on the Bush foreign policy, America Unbound stands out as the most articulate and compelling. Students of the Bush presidency and US foreign policy will be consulting this instant classic for decades to come." Andrew Preston, University of Victoria, International Journal
"...a useful overview and authoritative example of current political issues surrounding the Bush presidency in particular and trends in the U.S. foreign policy more generally....America Unbound offers a solid basis for understanding the consequences of the unleashing of America by the Bush presidency." Laura A. Stengrim, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Rhetoric and Public Affairs, 12/2/2005
"Daalder and Lindsay offer a provocative and original thesis and also a caution to those who have underestimated George W. Bush's decisive and historic impact on the course of American foreign policy." Robert Kagan, author OF PARADISE AND POWER: AMERICA AND EUROPE IN THE NEW WORLD ORDER
"That infamous day, September 11, revolutionized many things, not least American foreign policy. Widely recognized foreign policy experts Ivo Daalder and James Lindsay have provided the first critical but fair account of the historic shift in U.S. foreign policy brought on by the age of terrorism. Most importantly, this book carefully documents our shift away from post-Cold War norms of internationalism toward a new doctrine: 'you are either with us or against us.'" Gary Hart, U.S. Senator (Ret.)
About the Author
Ivo H. Daalder is a senior fellow in Foreign Policy Studies and the Sydney Stein Jr. Chair in International Security at the Brookings Institution. He is the coauthor, with James M. Lindsay, of America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy (Brookings, 2003) and the coauthor of Winning Ugly: NATO's War to Save Kosovo (Brookings, 2001), written with Michael E. O'Hanlon. James M. Lindsay is vice president and director of studies of the Council on Foreign Relations, where he holds the Maurice R. Greenberg Chair. He was previously deputy director and senior fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution. His books include Agenda for the Nation (Brookings 2003) and Defending America: The Case for Limited National Missile Defense (Brookings 2001). In 1996-97, Lindsay was director for global issues and multilateral affairs on the National Security Council staff.
Product details
- Publisher : Brookings Institution Press; First Edition, First Printing (September 30, 2003)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 246 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0815716885
- ISBN-13 : 978-0815716884
- Item Weight : 1.05 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #3,380,660 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,276 in Comparative Politics
- #2,459 in Non-US Legal Systems (Books)
- #2,722 in International Diplomacy (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors

Ivo H. Daalder is president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. He served as the US ambassador to NATO from 2009-2013.
Prior to his appointment as ambassador to NATO by President Obama, Daalder was a senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, specializing in American foreign policy, European security and transatlantic relations, and national security affairs. Before joining Brookings in 1998, he was an associate professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy and director of research at its Center for International and Security Studies. He also served as director for European affairs on President Bill Clinton’s National Security Council staff from 1995-97.
Ambassador Daalder is the author and editor of 10 books, including The Empty Throne: How America Abdicated Its Global Leadership (with James M. Lindsay) to be published in fall 2018. Other books include In the Shadow of the Oval Office: Profiles of the National Security Advisers and the Presidents they Served — From JFK to George W. Bush (with I. M. Destler) and the award-winning America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy (with James M. Lindsay). Daalder is a frequent contributor to the opinion pages of the world’s leading newspapers, and a regular commentator on international affairs on television and radio.
Ambassador Daalder was educated at the universities of Kent, Oxford, and Georgetown, and received his PhD in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is married to Elisa D. Harris, and they have two sons.

James M. Lindsay is senior vice president, director of studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg chair at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where he oversees the work of the more than six dozen fellows in the David Rockefeller Studies Program. He is a leading authority on the American foreign policymaking process and the domestic politics of American foreign policy.
Before returning to CFR in 2009, Dr. Lindsay was the inaugural director of the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas at Austin, where he held the Tom Slick chair for international affairs at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. From 2003 to 2006, he was vice president, director of studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg chair at CFR. He previously served as deputy director and senior fellow in the foreign policy studies program at the Brookings Institution. From 1987 until 1999, he was a professor of political science at the University of Iowa.
From 1996 to 1997, Dr. Lindsay was director for global issues and multilateral affairs on the staff of the National Security Council. He has also served as a consultant to the United States Commission on National Security/21st Century (Hart-Rudman Commission) and as a staff expert for the United States Institute of Peace's congressionally mandated Task Force on the United Nations.
Dr. Lindsay has written widely on various aspects of American foreign policy and international relations. His latest book, The Empty Throne: America's Abdication of Global Leadership, co-authored with Ivo H. Daalder, will be released in October 2018. His previous book with Ivo H. Daalder, America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy, was awarded the 2003 Lionel Gelber Prize, named a finalist for the Arthur S. Ross Book Award, and selected as a top book of 2003 by the Economist. His other books include Agenda for the Nation (with Henry J. Aaron and Pietro S. Nivola), which was named an "Outstanding Academic Book of 2004" by Choice magazine; and Congress and the Politics of U.S. Foreign Policy. He has also contributed articles to the op-ed pages of many major newspapers, including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. He writes the blog The Water's Edge, which discusses the politics of American foreign policy and the domestic underpinnings of American global power.
Dr. Lindsay holds an AB in economics and political science from the University of Michigan and an MA, MPhil, and PhD from Yale University. He has been a fellow at the Center for International Affairs and the Center for Science and International Affairs, both at Harvard University. He is a recipient of the Pew Faculty Fellowship in International Affairs and CFR International Affairs Fellowship. He is a member of CFR.
Dr. Lindsay was born in Winchester, Massachusetts, in 1959 and lives in the Washington, DC, suburbs.
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Daalder and Lindsay are most powerful in their analyses of the major speeches and documents to come from President Bush and his administration.
Helpful book, but others are better: Rise of the Vulcans by James Mann is far more useful for understanding the different viewpoints of the Administration. That and he offers compelling of the major players in the Bush administration (although there is little discussion about Bush himself).
So in the ongoing effort to acquire more information I embarked on America Unbound. It had gotten some decent reviews and even the cover cites a portion of The New York Times review "A splendidly illuminating book". Unfortunately, that it is not, and certainly cast serious doubt on the Times as an arbiter of truth and cogent thought.
Rather than go into numerous specific instances of unsupported conclusory statements and factual misstatements I think it is fair to say that this book does not add anything to provide a better understanding of the administration reviewed. Pretty much rubbish.
I also want to say that I may have been naive in thinking that the authors who worked at a respected think tank would produce a worthwhile analysis. They did not.
The book central argument is well accepted: the President unilateralism has produced quick victories in Afghanistan and Iraq but has fractured the world system and has exacerbated anti-Americanism. As a result, the U.S. is less secure. The authors make the case that "the fundamental premise of the Bush revolution that America's security rested on an America unbound was profoundly mistaken."
The attacks of September 11, 2001, allowed Bush to refashion American foreign policy in a bolder fashion. But, his vision and goals really had not changed. His key assumption is the belief that states, rather than individuals or groups remain the essential force in international affairs. Bush came up with his phrase "Axis of Evil" when referring to Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. He also set his foreign policy in black or white "you are either with us or against us." This refers to countries supposedly supporting terrorism or not. Despite the evidence that al Qaeda is supranational terrorist network with few allegiance to specific State, the Bush doctrine is to fight such terrorist network one State at a time.
While the connection between al Qaeda and the Afghanistan Taliban made sense following Bush vision that States do sponsor terrorism; The Taliban was the exception that confirms the rule. Typically, it is not the case, as terrorist networks operate beyond State boundaries. Yet, the conviction derived from victory over the Taliban sent Bush and the U.S. astray on an unbound foreign policy leading to the Iraqi invasion.
Regarding Iraq, all the administration assumptions turned out to be incorrect. The U.S. administration three main assumptions where:
1) Saddam Hussein's possession of weapons of mass destruction posed an imminent threat;
2) Turning Iraq into a viable self-governing state would be easy. The Iraqis would welcome U.S. troops as liberators; and
3) Once weapons were found and postwar normality returned even those countries opposed to the war would want to contribute to Iraq reconstruction.
All assumptions were wrong. No weapons of mass destruction have been found. The Iraqi society has collapsed. U.S. soldiers are killed almost daily by Islamic terrorists infiltrating Iraq. And, the U.S. alone is bearing the fiscal and military burden of Iraq reconstruction.
Another false assumption driven by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was that the peacekeeping occupation of Iraq would take far fewer soldiers (only 30,000) than the actual war did. This turned out to be a huge mistake. It quickly became clear that the peacekeeping occupation required more soldiers than the war (180,000 for peacekeeping, only 125,000 for the war). The soldiers ranks were quickly shored up; But, at a cost of more than $1 billion per week. We will need that many troops there for at least another year or two. This means $50 to $100 billion alone just for the U.S. troops. This huge cost does not include any Iraq reconstruction cost.
Here is the true cost of Bush's unilateralism. Militarily, close to half the U.S. Army is deployed in Iraq, with no exit date in sight. American soldiers are on one-year rotations, and many face the prospect of returning to Iraq within a year of going home. Morale, recruitment and retention are bound to suffer. Our Army is being stretched too thinly on the wrong issue. And, our ability to address more pressing national-security challenges is impaired.
The authors make sharp observation regarding the Administration vision. Contrary to popular beliefs, they do not view Bush as a puppet manipulated by a neoconservatives. Instead, they see Bush as an assertive leader effectively imposing his vision. That he does not express it like a Ph.D. in political science is irrelevant. The authors note that the top spots from an executive standpoint are not populated by neoconservatives (Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfovitz, Pentagon adviser Richard Perle), but instead by "assertive nationalists" such as Vice President Dick Cheney, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. But, the neoconservatives have successfully promoted their opinions. Some of the assertive nationalists have become strong advocates of neoconservative policies. This is particularly true for Dick Cheney.
Dick Cheney experienced a transformation after September 11, 2001. He immersed himself in studying Islam and the Middle East, meeting with the top scholars on the subject: Bernard Lewis and Fouad Ajami. These scholars argued that toppling Saddam would send a message of strength and enhance America's credibility throughout the Muslim world. Having spent time with such tutors, the vice president became the chief advocate of the neoconservative position. Thus, if one can argue with Dick Cheney's position on Iraq; surprisingly, one can't argue he had not consulted the top minds on the subject. With 20/20 hindsight, it is easy to rebut the Administration Iraqi policies. However, it is more challenging to navigate the quicksand of foreign policy. Nevertheless, the book does an excellent job of clarifying one's hindsight on such matters.

