The Obama Doctrine: American Grand Strategy Today

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.

Table of Contents:
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

About the Author :
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.

Review :
"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