After Bush The Case for Continuity in American Foreign Policy

The foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration has won few admirers, and many anticipate that his successor will repudiate the actions of the past eight years. In their provocative account Lynch and Singh argue that Bush's policy should be placed within the mainstream of the American foreign policy tradition. Further, they suggest that there will, and should, be continuity in US foreign policy from his presidency to those of his successors. Providing a positive audit of the war on terror (which they contend should be understood as a Second Cold War) they maintain that the Bush doctrine has been consistent with past policy at times of war and that the key elements of Bush's grand strategy will continue to shape America's approach in the future. Above all, they predict that his successors will pursue the war against Islamist terror with similar dedication.

Introduction: winning the Second Cold War; 1. Bush and the American foreign policy tradition; 2. The constitution of American national security; 3. The Second Cold War on Islamist terror: negative audits; 4. The Second Cold War on Islamist terror: a positive audit; 5. Iraq: Vietnam in the sand?; 6. The Middle East: reformation or Armageddon?; 7. Friends and foes after Bush; 8. The emerging consensus at home and abroad; Conclusion: the case for continuity.

Timothy J. Lynch (BA, UEA; MA, London; PhD, Boston College) is Senior Lecturer in US Foreign Policy at the Institute for the Study of the Americas, School of Advanced Study, University of London. He is the author of Turf War: The Clinton Administration and Northern Ireland and, with Robert Singh, After Bush: The Case for Continuity in American Foreign Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2008).
Robert S. Singh is Professor of Politics in the School of Politics and Sociology at Birkbeck College, University of London.