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Summary: After Bush, Before Obama
Comment: If Congress had not amended the law to limit the number of terms a president could serve cynics would no doubt suggest that the co-authors of a book -- taking an historical as opposed to a hysterical look at presidential doctrine -- launched just weeks before the election were courting positions of high office.
As it happens, Bush's second term is nearing its end and he will soon be leaving the capital for Crawford, hence the title of Timothy J. Lynch's and Robert S. Singh's hardback: After Bush: The Case for Continuity in American Foreign Policy. All the same the University of London duo could still be on Bush's guest list at the White House before the moving vans approach 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Though clearly, such an offer is not the be all and end all for Messrs. Lynch and Singh. If anything an invitation from the 44th President of the United States is just as likely given their book's non-partisan, political futurology and for all of Barack Obama's mantra of 'change'.
Their historical reference point is the Truman era and the First Cold War. And their central thesis is that we are in the early stages of a Second Cold War, this time against Islamist terrorism. Notwithstanding Truman remaining the gold standard for presidential rehabilitation the pair never set out to revise Bush and make him into one of America's top ten. Depersonalizing the debate only reinforces their case and prolongs After Bush's existence on module reading lists the world over. (Indeed the bibliography alone, if read, would be enough to earn a master's degree.)
Thus After Bush should be read by everyone from Bush-backer to Bush-basher. That said if you are a Bush (doctrine)-basher and invited to debate with Lynch and Singh, decline. Their witty repartee and ready access store of historical quotations not to mention geo-political savvy, would threaten your myths and misconceptions. For instance by placing Bush's response to 9/11 in historical context, Lynch and Singh frontally challenge the view that Bush was a revolutionary. It is here that the pair is to be congratulated for filling a vacuum in American foreign policy scholarship. (Until now all we had to quote was from the hands of John Lewis Gaddis, Niall Ferguson, Melvyn Leffler and Michael Gove.)
The duo's 300-page hardback is a confident and comprehensive rebuttal to Bush's critics. But that is not to say the co-authors overlook questions pertaining to the legality of intervention, the mismanagement of post-war Iraq and alleged abuses at Abu Ghraib. Rest assured no stone goes unturned.
As a consequence, Lynch and Singh are now among the heavyweights of today: Robert Lieber (The American Era) and Andrew Roberts (A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900). While Robert Kaufman (In Defense of the Bush Doctrine) and Norman Podhoretz (World War IV) battle it out in the middleweight division. Such an appraisal is based on their historical nuance; historical nuance that would give the likes of Walter Russell Mead (Special Providence) and Robert Kagan (Dangerous Nation) a run for their money.
Longsighted not shortsighted. Practical not polemical. Continuity not change.
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Summary: Lynch & Singh's take on the future direction of US foreign policy
Comment: 'After Bush' is controversial, provocative and will undoubtedly divide opinion. Yet such is the strength of the book, Lynch and Singh truly lay down the gauntlet to those that disagree with them.
The authors go against the academic grain by not only finding Bush foreign policy in the post 9/11 world as eminently predictable and sensible, but vital in establishing the doctrine that will be used to fight what they refer to as the Second Cold War- that against Islamist terrorism.
Lynch and Singh also see many parallels between Bush and Harry Truman- both presidents departing the White House unpopular domestically and mired in seemingly intractable wars in far away places. However just as the Truman Doctrine was re-applied throughout the Cold War, Lynch and Singh see the Bush Doctrine as equally re-applicable in the Second Cold War.
It is the authors view that continuity in US foreign policy is not only likely, but desirable. Therefore for those that believe (and wish) that an Obama presidency will herald a reversal in direction for US foreign policy 'After Bush' makes for especially essential- and sobering- reading.
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Summary: Controversial, and for a good reason.
Comment: The authors argue that the Bush Doctrine can be seen as historically continuous with previous US administrations. I agree. They also argue that US foreign policy is likely to continue in the same manner following Bush's exit. I agree with this also. Their third claim however is that US foreign policy *should* continue in the same manner. This is rather more difficult to digest.
There is a fundamental mismatch in this book between the stated aims of challenging 'conventional wisdom' through a thorough historical and political analysis, and what it actually says. Much of the writing is so manifestly ideological as to lose all credibility. Unexamined assumptions about the state of the world are rife. Terrorists are simply evil and apparently came from outer space to attack western civilisation. The US administration is ostensibly forced to play a difficult balancing act between 'liberating' muslims abroad (indeed the Iraq war was apparently fought 'on behalf of muslims'), and maintaining democracy at home. Some of the writing, considering this is meant to be an academic work, sounds more suited to a Bill O'Reilly rant. 'Liberals', they argue, are allied with Islamic terrorists and are happy to be, since the overriding principle for liberals is anti-Americanism. Yes, the authors genuinely say this (p.97). Liberals 'march in the defense' of fascist regimes, whereas the US seeks to topple them (p.94). I could go on with quotes like this but frankly it is not worth the effort.
The authors are fully aware of the controversial nature of their claims; indeed I'm sure they're also aware of the selling potential of controversy. As an academic book, it is deeply flawed. Hypotheticals, straw men, hyperbole, non sequiturs and even blatant fabrications (NSA wiretaps were conducted with 'decisive support of most Americans' apparently (p.81), although no source is given for this empirical claim) abound.
If I were marking this text, perhaps as an undergrad paper, it would be covered in red ink. If you already agree with the Bush Doctrine, then this book will make you feel better about yourself. If you don't, you will probably want to kick it across the street. If you are examining it from an academic perspective, you will, as I have frequently, simply sigh a lot and wonder what review committee could have approved its publication as an academic text.
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Summary: A fresh analysis regarding the continuity of presidential administrations
Comment: There seems to be a widely held belief in the European media that if Senator Barack Obama wins the 2008 election we will witness dramatic changes in US foreign Policy. "After Bush" puts this notion to rest in a compelling and convincing manner.
Authors Timothy Lynch and Rob Singh set out to dispel the idea that US foreign policy changes strikingly from one presidential administration to another. There is an American foreign policy tradition that people tend to forget, one which if studied properly reveals remarkable continuity between Democrats and Republicans. Moreover, Judged by the standards of the world's nations, US foreign policy has on the whole been a success story, and we thus should embrace its continuity from the George W. Bush administration to next year's Obama or McCain administrations.
Lynch and Singh are rare in Europe in that they are perhaps the only scholars who have dared to give praise to the Bush administration where it is deserved. This refreshing and reasoned analysis of the Bush adminstration's foreign policy and the foreign policy tradition is a must read for students and anyone interested in reading on the Bush presidency without the bias and emotion of contemporary political commentators.
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Summary: A cogent and timely analysis of George W. Bush's foreign policy
Comment: In 'After Bush', Timothy Lynch and Robert Singh argue compellingly that George W. Bush's grand strategy should be placed within the mainstream of the American foreign policy tradition.
Furthermore, the authors suggest that subsequent US administrations will, and should, essentially continue the policies of the Bush doctrine.
By placing the US response to 9/11 in historical context, Lynch and Singh eloquently challenge the widely-held (but mistaken) view that Bush has revolutionised American foreign policy.
As the authors put it, "September 11 invoked precedent not transformation."
'After Bush' will remain an invaluable resource for students and scholars of US foreign policy long after many of the often historically shortsighted anti-Bush polemics have disappeared into academic irrelevance.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in the current direction of American foreign policy.
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