Presidential Rhetoric from Wilson to Obama: Constructing crises, fast and slow

Author:   Wesley Widmaier (Griffith University, Queensland, Australia)
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
ISBN:  

9781138790902


Pages:   162
Publication Date:   14 November 2014
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Our Price $200.00 Quantity:  
Add to Cart

Share |

Presidential Rhetoric from Wilson to Obama: Constructing crises, fast and slow


Add your own review!

Overview

Over the past century, presidential constructions of crises have spurred recurring redefinitions of U.S. interests, as crusading advance has alternated with realist retrenchment. For example, Harry Truman and George W. Bush constructed crises that justified liberal crusades in the Cold War and War on Terror. In turn, each was followed by realist successors, as Dwight Eisenhower and Barack Obama limited U.S. commitments, but then struggled to maintain popular support. To make sense of such dynamics, this book synthesizes constructivist and historical institutionalist insights regarding the ideational overreactions that spur shifts across crusading excesses and realist counter-reactions. Widmaier juxtaposes what Daniel Kahneman terms the initial ""fast thinking"" popular constructions of crises that justify liberal crusades, the ""slow thinking"" intellectual conversion of such views in realist adjustments, and the tensions that can lead to renewed crises. This book also traces these dynamics historically across five periods – as Wilson’s overreach limited Franklin Roosevelt to a reactive pragmatism, as Truman’s Cold War crusading incited Eisenhower’s restraint, as Kennedy-Johnson Vietnam-era crusading led to Nixon’s revived realism, as Reagan’s idealism yielded to a Bush-Clinton pragmatism, and as George W. Bush’s crusading was followed by Obama’s restraint. Widmaier concludes by addressing theoretical debates over punctuated change, historical debates over the scope for consensus, and policy debates over populist or intellectual excesses. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of U.S. Foreign Policy

Full Product Details

Author:   Wesley Widmaier (Griffith University, Queensland, Australia)
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 1.50cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.362kg
ISBN:  

9781138790902


ISBN 10:   1138790907
Pages:   162
Publication Date:   14 November 2014
Audience:   College/higher education ,  General/trade ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

1. Constructing Crises, Converting Values, and Credibility Gaps 2. Wilsonian Transformations: Presidential Rhetoric and Crusading Internationalism 3. Constructing Cold War Consensus: Truman’s Crusade and Eisenhower’s Restraint 4. The Limits to the Cold War Consensus – and to the Pragmatic Lessons of Vietnam 5. Constructing Liberal Lessons of Vietnam – and the Limits to Post-Cold War Pragmatism 6. Constructing a Crusading Freedom Agenda or a Pragmatic Responsibility to Protect 7. Conclusions: Populism, Intellectualism and the Limits of Foreign Policy by Crisis

Reviews

Widmaier (Griffith Univ., Australia) presents readers with an intriguing theory about how US presidents craft foreign policy and the rhetoric used to communicate foreign policy to the American public. -- J. R. Hedtke, Cabrini College, CHOICE


Author Information

Wesley W. Widmaier is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow, 2011-2015 at Griffith University Centre for Governance and Public Policy, Griffith University.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions
Latest Reading Guide

Aorrng

Shopping Cart
Your cart is empty
Shopping cart
Mailing List