Review: Regional Studies: Congress and the Politics of U.S. Foreign Policy
| Published date | 01 June 1996 |
| Date | 01 June 1996 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209605100223 |
| Author | Dan Madar |
| Subject Matter | Review |
386
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
end
of
the
Cold
War,
Bush
faced
a
host
of
new
foreign
policy
problems,
and
Brown
argues
that
he
was
not
always
up
to
the
task.
The
president's
attempt
to
create
a
'new
world
order'
based
on
the
old
principles
of
territorial
integrity,
state
sovereignty,
and
free
trade
did
not
serve
him
well
when
trying
to
develop
policy
toward
China,
Bosnia,
and
Japan.
Likewise,
although
Bush
used military force
more
often
and more
mas-
sively
than
any
president
since
the
Vietnam
war, his
justifications
for
using
force
lacked
clarity
of
purpose.
Although
the
jury
is
still
out
on the Clinton
presidency,
Brown's
early
analysis
maintains
that
Clinton
has
largely followed
in
his
prede-
cessor's
footsteps.
Lacking an
ideological
vision,
Clinton
has
flip-
flopped
his
way
through
the
presidency.
Candidate
Clinton
criticized
Bush's
policies
on
Haiti,
China,
and
the
Balkans, yet
President
Clinton
has
adopted
them
as
his
own.
Candidate
Clinton
criticized
his
prede-
cessor
for
giving
too
little,
too
late
to
Mikhail
Gorbachev,
but
President
Clinton
seems
destined
to
make
the
same
mistake
with Boris
Yeltsin.
As
Brown's insightful
analysis
makes
clear,
American
leaders
must
adjust
ideologically
to
the
realities
of
the
post-Cold
War
world.
Without
a
coherent
vision
and
explicit
priorities,
United
States
foreign policy
will
continue
to
be reactive,
erratic,
and
largely
ineffectual.
Beth
A.
Fischer/University
of
Toronto
CONGRESS
AND
THE
POLITICS
OF
U.S.
FOREIGN
POLICY
Edited
by
James
M.
Lindsay
Baltimore
MD:
Johns
Hopkins
University Press,
1994,
22
8
pp,
$42.50
cloth,
$13.95
paper
The
1994
elections
left
conservative
Young
Turks in enthusiastic
prom-
inence
in
the
House
and
a
more
diverse
Republican
assemblage
hold-
ing
sway
in
the
Senate.
Calls
for
a
more
isolationist
foreign
policy,
increased
defence
spending,
and
even
the
resumption of
parts
of
Star
Wars
are
evidence
that
the
majority
really
has
shifted.
How
will
that
affect American
foreign
policy?
Lindsay's
concise
and
thorough
book,
which
appeared
shortly
before the
elections,
provides
a
balanced
and
sophisticated
way
of
following
developments.
He
rejects
the
view,
advo-
cated
by
Oliver
North
among
others,
that
Congress
has
commandeered
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