America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy

President George W. Bush is leading a revolution in American foreign policy. Galvanized by the terrorist attacks of September 11, he has radically amended, and in some cases abandoned, strategies and institutions that for decades guided America's engagement in the world. With terrorists, tyrants and technologies of mass destruction posing a grave and growing danger, Bush believes that the best - if not the only way - to ensure America's security is to schuck the constraints imposed by friends, allies and international institutions. In this book, Ivo Daalder and James Lindsay explore how Bush became a foreign policy revolutionary. Before assuming office, he was widely seen as a novice in international affairs who would be guided - if not held captive - by his far more experienced advisors. His insistence during the campaign that the Clinton administration had overextended the United States abroad led many to conclude that his presidency would drift toward isolationism. Daalder and Lindsay show that the conventional wisdom was wrong. Bush, a White House insider during his father's administration, had a clear understanding of how presidents must lead. And he believed that the confident and unilateral exercise of American power was the best way to promote America's national interests. The Bush revolution in foreign policy, the authors argue, carries with it high risks and possibly high costs.