Making U.S. Foreign Policy Toward South Asia: Regional Imperatives and the Imperial Presidency

This book situates U.S. foreign policy processes in the contexts of three imperial presidencies: the administrations of Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and George W. Bush. The contributors examine the changing contours of U.S. relations with South Asian states through two contrasting models of presidential policy making: imperative coordination, which is based on hierarchy and command and executed by presidents' men who serve at his pleasure and are committed to his partisan interests in the near term; and deliberative coordination, based on collegiality and persuasion and executed by foreign policy and military professionals knowledgeable about the regional, bi-lateral, and global dimensions of national interests and national security.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgements Profile of the Contributors Prologue Introduction (The Regional Imperative) Part 1. Looking Back, Looking Forward 1. U. S. Foreign Policy toward South Asia: A Continuing Tilt to the Functional, by Walter Andersen 2. The Reasons Why: American's Half-Century Struggle to Control the Political Agenda in South Asia, by Harold A. Gould 3. From Indifference to Engagement: The Role of the U. S. Congress in Making Foreign Policy for South Asia, by Arthur G. Rubinoff Part 2. Coordination 4. The Coordination of Complexity in South Asia, by Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph Part 3. Case Studies 5. The Breakup of Pakistan, by Philip Oldenburg 6. Public Law 480 and the Policies of Self-Help and Short-Tether: Indo-American Relations, 1965-1968, by James Warner Bjorkman Index

About the Author :
Lloyd I. Rudolph is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Chicago. Susanne Hoeber Rudolph is the William Benton Distinguished Service Professor Emerita at the University of Chicago. Their co-authored books include Postmodern Gandhi and Other Essays: Gandhi in the World and at Home and In Pursuit of Lakshmi: The Political Economy of the Indian State.

Review :
"Our goal is to improve the attentive public's understanding of the politics of making foreign policy. Of particular concern to us has been to show how the concepts of imperative and deliberative coordination help to explain the imperial presidencies of Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and George W. Bush." from the preface "The Rudolphs have produced an impressive book on US South Asia policy, explaining its inconsistency, the reason behind this and the policy-making process that generates such inconsistency...The book provides a historical account of US South Asia policy, with in-depth analysis of a number of policy issues, and analytical frameworks to explain the policy-making process...The individual papers are unquestionably excellent pieces of work...this is a very valuable addition to the growing body of scholarship on US foreign policy toward South Asia."-Bhumitra Chakma, The Royal Society for Asian Affairs, July 2009