Difficult Transitions Foreign Policy Troubles at the Outset of Presidential Power

by Campbell, Kurt M.; Steinberg, James B.

• ISBN13: 9780815713401
• ISBN10: 0815713401
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-11-05
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Summary

"The process of transferring power from a sitting U.S. president to a president-elect is one of the most distinctive and perilous features of the American constitutional system at time of great hope and optimism, but also one of great risk. Drawing on decades of government service and public policy experience, former presidential advisers Kurt Campbell and James Steinberg review past foreign policy episodes and identify the major pitfalls that a president-elect must try to avoid."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

James B. Steinberg is dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin.

Table of Contents

Preface
Transition Memo: Hope, Hubris, Headaches, and Cardboard Boxes	p. vii
Difficult Transitions: Presidential Transitions and Foreign Policy Perils	p. 1
Firsthand Practitioner Accounts: Present at the Transition	p. 8
Transitions Today: Enduring Challenges and Accelerating Risks	p. 23
Campaign Trials	p. 41
The Right Staff	p. 62
Structural Imperatives	p. 87
Governing Realities	p. 103
Twenty Recommendations: Getting Off to a Successful Start and Avoiding Transition Traps and Trip-ups	p. 129
Transition Verities: The 2008-09 Presidential Transfer	p. 144
Scholarly and Expert Perspectives: The Makings of Modern History	p. 151
Notes	p. 169
Bibliography	p. 191
Index	p. 197
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