National Security Entrepreneurs and the Making of American Foreign Policy
Charles-Philippe David author Vincent Boucher author Karine Prémont author
Format:Hardback
Publisher:McGill-Queen's University Press
Published:12th Nov '20
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This hardback is available in another edition too:
- Paperback£35.00(9780228003359)
An original story of national security entrepreneurs that offers a detailed analysis of the decision-makers who want to change the course of U.S. foreign policy.
By analysing significant diplomatic and military decisions of the Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton administrations, and offering an account of national security entrepreneurship under the recent presidents, this book argues for an agent-based explanation of foreign policy change and continuity.Since the advent of the contemporary US national security apparatus in 1947, entrepreneurial public officials have tried to reorient the course of the nation's foreign policy. Acting inside the National Security Council system, some principals and high-ranking officials have worked tirelessly to generate policy change and innovation on the issues they care about. These entrepreneurs attempt to set the foreign policy agenda, frame policy problems and solutions, and orient the decision-making process to convince the president and other decision makers to choose the course they advocate. In National Security Entrepreneurs and the Making of American Foreign Policy Vincent Boucher, Charles-Philippe David, and Karine Prémont develop a new concept to study entrepreneurial behaviour among foreign policy advisers and offer the first comprehensive framework of analysis to answer this crucial question: why do some entrepreneurs succeed in guaranteeing the adoption of novel policies while others fail? They explore case studies of attempts to reorient US foreign policy waged by National Security Council entrepreneurs, examining the key factors enabling success and the main forces preventing the adoption of a preferred option: the entrepreneur's profile, presidential leadership, major players involved in the policy formulation and decision-making processes, the national political context, and the presence or absence of significant opportunities. By carefully analyzing significant diplomatic and military decisions of the Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton administrations, and offering a preliminary account of contemporary national security entrepreneurship under presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump, this book makes the case for an agent-based explanation of foreign policy change and continuity.
"National Security Entrepreneurs and the Making of American Foreign Policy is head and shoulders above most of the political science literature on these issues. This book captures the drama and human element in each case study, even as it sticks within the framework of the analysis – that's difficult to do, but the authors do it well. This will be an important work in the field of foreign policy analysis." William Newmann, Virginia Commonwealth University
"Most studies of American foreign policy at the individual level focus on the president. Boucher, David, and Prémont very usefully direct our attention to the bureaucratic entrepreneurs in the National Security Council who try to drive change in the policy-making process, not always successfully and not always with positive results. This is a real contribution to our understanding of how American foreign policy is made." F. Gregory Gause III, Bush School of Government, Texas A&M University
"National Security Entrepreneurs and the Making of American Foreign Policy breaks important new ground in providing a comprehensive assessment of factors that affect the ability of senior government officials to generate foreign policy shifts. Through rich case studies and insightful analysis, Boucher, David, and Prémont show that successful entrepreneurs rely on both windows of opportunity and effective strategies of bureaucratic manoeuvring to move foreign policy in new directions." Jordan Tama, American University
"American foreign policy making remains a human enterprise, one that reflects all the strengths and weaknesses of the people who take part in the process. In National Security Entrepreneurs and the Making of American Foreign Policy, Boucher, David, and Prémont introduce us to some of the entrepreneurs who have shaped American statecraft for good and ill. It is a welcome, needed, and readable addition to the literature." John A. Gans, University of Pennsylvania and author of White House Warriors: How the National Security Council Transformed the American Way of War
"While policy entrepreneurship has received closer examination in recent years, particularly in the aftermath of September 11th, National Security Entrepreneurs stands out for its emphasis on US foreign policy actors and the introduction of a five-variable framework to answer why NSC entrepreneurship results in both success and failure." H-War
ISBN: 9780228003342
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
480 pages