Review: The Russian Presidency
| Date | 01 June 2000 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200005500214 |
| Author | James H. Taylor |
| Published date | 01 June 2000 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
Reviews
Besides
this
novel
reconstruction,
Tyler
emphasizes
other
abrupt
American
manoeuvres,
particularly
on Taiwan.
Several
American
diplomats
made
commitments
to
Beijing
about
ending
or
curbing
Washington's
military
relationship
with
Taiwan
only
to
backtrack
later,
explaining
to
the
frustrated
Chinese
that
such
a
move
was
politically
impossible.
Mao
Zedong
and Deng
Xiaoping
ultimately went
along
because
of
their
concern
about
the
Soviet
threat.
Now
that
Russia
is
no
longer
a
significant
factor,
the situation
is
more dangerous.
Tyler
highlights
the
infighting
among
American
policy-makers,
describing
the
well-known
feuds
between
William
Rogers
and
Henry
Kissinger,
Zbigniew
Brzezinski
and
Cyrus
Vance,
Alexander
Haig
and
just
about
everybody. These
feuds
have
added
a
further
capricious
fac-
tor
to
the
United
States-China
relationship.
They
also
provide
an
opportunity
for
colourful
writing,
as
when
Tyler
says
Brzezinski's ego
'stood
like
a
pompadour
over his
sharp
features.'
By
contrast,
Chinese
leaders,
particularly
Mao
and
Deng,
emerge
on
these
pages
as
titanic,
far-sighted
figures.
These
are
idealized
portraits
and
reflect Tyler's
rather
rosy
view
of
China
as
a
whole.
Those
who
despise
the
regime
in
Beijing
will
find
Tyler
naive
and
infuriating,
but
his
book
is
a
bracing
read.
Fred
Edwards/University
of
Toronto.
THE
RUSSIAN
PRESIDENCY
Thomas
M.
Nichols
New
York:
St
Martin's,
1999,
xxiii,
2
00pp,
us$45.00,
ISBN
0-312-
22357-9
After
300
years
of
the
Romanovs
and
70
of
communism,
it
is
a
wonder
Russia has
any
democracy
at
all.
Westerners
often
justify
their
pes-
simism
about
Russian
prospects
for
just
this
reason.
In
this
short
but
substantial
analysis,
Thomas
Nichols,
Associate
Professor
at
the
United
States
Naval War
College,
takes
a
guarded
but
more
hopeful
view.
He
traces
the
institution
of
the
Russian
presidency
from
its
intel-
lectual
origins
in
the
Gorbachev
era
through
the
tumultuous
years
of
Boris
Yeltsin;
and
while
he
allows
that
much
of
this
history
is
Yeltsin's,
he
maintains
that
the
institution
itself,
as
much
as
its
incumbent,
has
become
the
guarantor
of
Russian
democracy.
The
presidency,
in
his
330
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Spring2000
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