1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910794486503321

Autore

Boucher Vincent <1989->

Titolo

National security entrepreneurs and the making of American foreign policy / / Vincent Boucher, Charles-Philippe David, and Karine Prémont with the collaboration of Florence Darveau Routhier

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Montreal : , : McGill-Queen's University Press, , 2020

ISBN

0-2280-0428-4

0-2280-0427-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xii, 480 pages) : illustrations

Disciplina

353.0089

Soggetti

Presidents - United States - Decision making - History - 20th century

National security - United States - Decision making - History - 20th century

Presidents - United States - Staff - History - 20th century

Political consultants - United States - History - 20th century

United States Foreign relations Decision making History 20th century

United States Politics and government 20th century

United States Foreign relations 20th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front Matter -- Contents -- Tables and Figures -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Introduction – The Origins and Significance of National Security Council Entrepreneurs -- NSC Entrepreneurship: A Framework of Analysis -- Against the Americanization of the Vietnam War: George W. Ball's Battle for LBJ's Heart and Mind, 1964–65 -- An Offbeat Entrepreneur: Gerard C. Smith and the SALT Negotiations, 1969–72 -- An Ill-Fated Success: Robert McFarlane and the “Iranian Initiative,” 1981–85 -- The Beginning of the Endgame: Anthony Lake and the Reorientation of Clinton's Bosnia Policy, 1994–95 -- The Successors: Entrepreneurship in the Era of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald J. Trump -- Conclusion - Explaining the Success and Failure of NSC Entrepreneurship: Findings and Perspectives for Future Research -- Appendix -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

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.