American Foreign Policy Since the Vietnam War: The Search for Consensus from Nixon to Clinton

by Melanson,Richard A

• ISBN13: 9780765602725
• ISBN10: 0765602725
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-12-31
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

A revealing look at presidential politics and foreign policy-making from the aftermath of Vietnam to the NATO intervention in Kosovo. The book illuminates the relationship between presidents' domestic and foreign policy priorities and the key role of public opinion in constraining presidential initiatives, particularly the ability of a president to use military force overseas. In case studies ranging from the invasion of Grenada through the Gulf War and the dilemmas of Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo, Melanson provides compelling portraits of presidents Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton, and their different efforts to forge a foreign policy consensus.

Author Biography

Richard A. Melanson is professor of international security studies at the National Defense University in Washington, DC.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
The Rise and Fall of the Cold War Consensus
In Search of Consensus	p. 3
The Elements of Consensus	p. 5
After Vietnam	p. 16
After the Cold War	p. 25
Foreign Policy Legitimation	p. 31
American Foreign Policy After Vietnam
The Nixon Administration	p. 43
The New Majority	p. 45
Peace with Honor	p. 53
A Full Generation of Peace	p. 63
A New Foreign Policy Consensus?	p. 75
The Carter Administration	p. 87
The People's President	p. 88
A Complex New World	p. 93
The Arc of Crisis	p. 107
A New Foreign Policy Consensus?	p. 115
The Reagan Administration	p. 129
We the People	p. 130
A Shining City on the Hill	p. 136
The "Rescue Mission" and the "Democratic Resistance"	p. 157
A New Foreign Policy Consensus?	p. 179
American Foreign Policy Since the Cold War
The Bush Administration	p. 197
The Procedural President	p. 197
From Containment to the New World Order	p. 203
A Post-Cold War Foreign PolicyConsensus?	p. 225
The Clinton Administration	p. 239
The Governor-President	p. 240
The Dilemmas of Armed Intervention	p. 247
A Strategy of Engagement and Enlargement	p. 261
A Post-Cold War Foreign Policy Consensus?	p. 282
Conclusions
American Foreign Policy Since Nixon	p. 293
The Nixon Administration	p. 304
The Carter Administration	p. 306
The Reagan Administration	p. 307
The Bush Administration	p. 307
The Clinton Administration	p. 308
Bibliography	p. 311
Index	p. 325
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