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By mid-2015, the Obama presidency will be entering its final stages, and the race among the successors in both parties will be well underway. And while experts have already formed a provisional understanding of the Obama administration's foreign policy goals, the shape of the "Obama Doctrine" is finally coming into full view. It has been consistently cautious since Obama was inaugurated in 2009, but recent events in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and the Far East
have led an increasingly large number of foreign policy experts to conclude that caution has transformed into weakness.In The Obama Doctrine, Colin Dueck analyzes and explains
what the Obama Doctrine in foreign policy actually is, and maps out the competing visions on offer from the Republican Party. Dueck, a leading scholar of US foreign policy, contends it is now becoming clear that Obama's policy of international retrenchment is in large part a function of his emphasis on achieving domestic policy goals. There have been some successes in the approach, but there have also been costs. For instance, much of the world no longer trusts the US to exert its will in
international politics, and America's adversaries overseas have asserted themselves with increasing frequency. The Republican Party will target these perceived weaknesses in the 2016 presidential campaign
and develop competing counter-doctrines in the process. Dueck explains that within the Republican Party, there are two basic impulses vying with each other: neo-isolationism and forceful internationalism. Dueck subdivides each impulse into the specific agenda of the various factions within the party: Tea Party nationalism, neoconservatism, conservative internationalism, and neo-isolationism. He favors a realistic but forceful US internationalism, and sees the willingness to disengage from the
world by some elements of the party as dangerous. After dissecting the various strands, he articulates an agenda of forward-leaning American realism--that is, a policy in which the US engages with the
world and is willing to use threats of force for realist ends. The Obama Doctrine not only provides a sharp appraisal of foreign policy in the Obama era; it lays out an alternative approach to marshaling American power that will help shape the foreign policy debate in the run-up to the 2016 elections.
By mid-2015, the Obama presidency will be entering its final stages, and the race among the successors in both parties will be well underway. And while experts have already formed a provisional understanding of the Obama administration's foreign policy goals, the shape of the "Obama Doctrine" is finally coming into full view. It has been consistently cautious since Obama was inaugurated in 2009, but recent events in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and the Far East
have led an increasingly large number of foreign policy experts to conclude that caution has transformed into weakness.In The Obama Doctrine, Colin Dueck analyzes and explains
what the Obama Doctrine in foreign policy actually is, and maps out the competing visions on offer from the Republican Party. Dueck, a leading scholar of US foreign policy, contends it is now becoming clear that Obama's policy of international retrenchment is in large part a function of his emphasis on achieving domestic policy goals. There have been some successes in the approach, but there have also been costs. For instance, much of the world no longer trusts the US to exert its will in
international politics, and America's adversaries overseas have asserted themselves with increasing frequency. The Republican Party will target these perceived weaknesses in the 2016 presidential campaign
and develop competing counter-doctrines in the process. Dueck explains that within the Republican Party, there are two basic impulses vying with each other: neo-isolationism and forceful internationalism. Dueck subdivides each impulse into the specific agenda of the various factions within the party: Tea Party nationalism, neoconservatism, conservative internationalism, and neo-isolationism. He favors a realistic but forceful US internationalism, and sees the willingness to disengage from the
world by some elements of the party as dangerous. After dissecting the various strands, he articulates an agenda of forward-leaning American realism--that is, a policy in which the US engages with the
world and is willing to use threats of force for realist ends. The Obama Doctrine not only provides a sharp appraisal of foreign policy in the Obama era; it lays out an alternative approach to marshaling American power that will help shape the foreign policy debate in the run-up to the 2016 elections.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Obama Doctrine
Chapter 1 Barack Obama and American Grand Strategy
Chapter 2 International Accommodation and Retrenchment
Chapter 3 The Domestic Politics of the Obama Doctrine
Chapter 4 Republican Alternatives to the Obama Doctrine
Chapter 5 Conservative American Realism
Bibliography
Notes
Index
Colin Dueck is an Associate Professor in George Mason University's
School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs. He studied
politics at Princeton University, and international relations at
Oxford under a Rhodes scholarship. He has published two books on
American foreign and national security policies, Hard Line: The
Republican Party and U.S. Foreign Policy since World War II, and
Reluctant Crusaders: Power, Culture, and
Change in American Grand Strategy.
"May be a useful study for Republican candidates in the 2016
campaigns, as [it] outlines how grand strategy should be directed
and where we need to go to save America's place as a top world
power... [Dueck's] ideas are clear, his arguments sound and his
policy proposals professional. A good book for those who think the
current policy just isn't doing its job." --Kirkus Reviews
"Dueck examines the Obama Doctrine's shortcomings as a strategic
outlook and Obama's mistakes in implementing it, the domestic
politics of foreign affairs, and several conservative alternatives.
Finally, he defends what he calls conservative American realism.
With this multifaceted book, he takes his place among our premier
scholars of foreign affairs." -- Real Clear Politics
"Colin Dueck takes a sober and analytical approach... In all these
moves, writes Dueck, Obama has shown a much keener political
sensibility than is commonly appreciated... The apparent success of
the Obama doctrine lasted just long enough to see him through
reelection. Not long after, the chickens started coming home to
roost... Dueck's case-by-case narrative of these failures makes for
harrowing reading. Dueck tries his academic best to give Obama a
fair
assessment, noting that Obama is highly intelligent and
analytical... Dueck is particularly helpful in connecting the dots
between America's foreign policy and its domestic politics." --
National Review
"Obama's real priority has been his domestic agenda. At best,
foreign policy has been a distraction, in Dueck's view. At worst,
Obama's record has been a tale of drift, ambivalence, and
well-intentioned naivete. It has also been marred by
inexperience... There is a lot to support Dueck's take." --
Financial Times
"With so many Democrats opposing his signature initiative, a lot of
liberals are joining conservatives in moving on -- in different
directions -- from Obama. But moving on to where? To know where to
go, it helps to understand where you've been. There's no better
guide than The Obama Doctrine: American Grand Strategy Today, a new
book by Colin Dueck." -- Newsday
"I predict presidential candidates for 2016 will mine this book for
its clarion call for strategic change... Dueck offers an incisive
depiction of the Republican Party and its various foreign policy
and defense camps... The Obama Doctrine offers a strategy that
integrates diplomacy, allies, forward presence, trade, and military
power... Smartly executed and well worth reading." -- Frank G.
Hoffman, National Defense University, War On The Rocks
"In The Obama Doctrine, Colin Dueck describes Barack Obama's
foreign policy as one of accommodating America's adversaries in the
belief that genuine and overarching cooperation is possible. Dueck,
a historian of American foreign policy's grand strategies over the
years, recommends instead what he calls a conservative American
realism, to preserve America's security and influence. It's a
useful contribution as Americans face the task of electing a
new
president." --Michael Barone, Washington Examiner, American
Enterprise Institute
"Dueck's powerful analysis contrasts the Obama Administration's
policy of strategic incoherence, which subordinates international
commitments to domestic priorities, with the ongoing dominance of
internationalists in the Republican Party. Required reading in the
run-up to the 2016 presidential election." --Dov S. Zakheim, former
Under Secretary of Defense
"Colin Dueck has established himself as one of our pre-eminent
students of Grand Strategy. His judicious, balanced and
comprehensive critique of President Obama's policy of retrenchment
and accommodation will become the point of departure for all future
accounts of the current Administration's strategy (or lack
thereof)." --Ambassador (retired) Eric S. Edelman, Under Secretary
of Defense for Policy, 2005-2009
"The Obama Doctrine not only offers a reasoned and insightful
critique of Barack Obama's approach to national security, but also
charts an alternative path forward to preserve American influence
in an increasingly challenging world." --Thomas G. Mahnken, Jerome
E. Levy Chair of Economic Geography and National Security, U.S.
Naval War College
"This book demonstrates why Dueck is one of the leading scholars of
American grand strategy, and in particular one of the foremost
interpreters of President Obama's grand strategy. Dueck advances a
provocative argument and defends it with careful logic and
evidence. This will be a touchstone for the growing debate over
Obama's foreign policy legacy." --Peter D. Feaver, Professor of
Political Science, Duke University
"The Obama Doctrine is a lucid, penetrating critique of President
Obama's foreign policy and a compelling argument for a more
confident and coherent American approach to the world. An important
book." --Elbridge Colby, Robert M. Gates Fellow, Center for a New
American Security
"Colin Dueck has written an immensely timely and insightful
treatment of Obama foreign policy and its strategies of
retrenchment and accommodation. He makes a compelling case that
these policies have often weakened the U.S. position abroad and
encouraged America's adversaries." --Robert J. Lieber, Georgetown
University, author of Power & Willpower in the American Future
"[Dueck] has written what is likely to emerge as one of the
principal critiques of President Obama's record on foreign policy .
. . [he] makes a clear, systematic case for posture of
'conservative American realism'". --Times Literary Supplement
"Should be required reading for 2016 presidential candidates and
their staffs." --Foreign Affairs
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