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• Academic Module: America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy

  August 2005

  Author:	James M. Lindsay, Director, Robert S. Strauss Center, University of Texas

  America Unbound will help students in an undergraduate introductory course or an advanced high school class understand how George W. Bush changed the practice of American foreign policy and why the Bush administration made the decisions it did leading up to the Iraq War without overwhelming them with complexity.

  Contents: Publication and Teaching Notes Foreign Affairs Articles Books and Publications Video Audio Transcripts Interviews Additional Resources

  What is a CFR Academic Module? Academic Modules—featuring teaching notes by the authors of CFR publications—are designed to assist educators in creating or supplementing a course syllabus. The modules are customized packages built around a primary CFR text, such as a book or report, and include teaching notes; additional readings; video, audio, and transcripts of CFR meetings; Foreign Affairs articles; and other online resources. Use of these modules is free of charge. They may be used in part or in their entirety.

  
  
  

   

  Publication and Teaching Notes

  

  August 2005

  America Unbound

  Authors:	James M. Lindsay, Director, Robert S. Strauss Center, University of Texas Ivo H. Daalder

  America Unbound argues that President Bush has redefined how America engages the world, shedding the constraints that friends, allies, and international institutions have traditionally imposed on its freedom, insisting that an America unbound is a more secure America.

   

  Teaching Notes

  America Unbound is a concise, straight-forward, and insightful analysis of the driving forces behind George W. Bush’s foreign policy.  It is equally fitting for:

  • General courses on American foreign policy;
  • Specialized courses on the theory and practice of international relations;
  • Specialized courses on the war or terror or on the current situation in Iraq.

  America Unbound will help students in an undergraduate introductory course or an advanced high school class understand how George W. Bush changed the practice of American foreign policy and why the Bush administration made the decisions it did leading up to the Iraq War without overwhelming them with complexity.

  For students in an upper-division course, America Unbound provides a comprehensive case study of the worldview that animates the Bush administration and shows how ideas are translated into practice in U.S. foreign policy.

  A. GENERAL COURSES ON AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY

  Discussion questions

  • Explain the main tenets of President Bush’s foreign policy worldview.  Argue for or against this approach.
  • To what extent was the Bush revolution in foreign policy a neoconservative revolution?
  • How did the events of September 11 change the Bush administration’s approach to foreign policy?
  • “Weakness, vacillation, and the unwillingness of the United States to stand with our friends, that is provocative,” argued Vice President Dick Cheney after September 11.  “It’s encouraged people like Osama bin Laden . . . to launch repeated strikes against the United States, and our people overseas and here at home, with the view that he could, in fact, do so with impunity” (82).  Evaluate the merits of the vice president’s claim.            
  • Douglas Feith, the third-ranking Pentagon official during George W. Bush’s first term, argues that the “principal strategic thought” underlying the Bush administration’s strategy in the war on terrorism was that “terrorists organizations cannot be effective in sustaining themselves over long periods of time to do large-scale operations if they don’t have support from states” (p. 84).  How does this view explain the Bush administration’s policy toward both Afghanistan and Iraq?  
  • “Tenet [the director of the Central Intelligence] worried that a war in Iraq would stimulate more terrorism and could even lead Saddam to hand over some of his weapons to terrorist organizations” (p. 130).  Discuss how the administration evaluated this claim before the war.  To what extent did Tenet’s fear come true?
  • How did the Bush administration’s handling of the occupation of Iraq change in the first two years after Saddam Hussein’s removal?  Were the difficulties that the administration encountered inevitable or the result of flawed strategy?   

  Debate

  • Did George W. Bush and his national security team deliberately mislead the country into war with Iraq?
  • On balance, has George W. Bush’s approach to foreign policy made the United States more or less secure?
  • Are unilateralism and ad hoc coalitions of the willing preferable to multilateralism and formal international institutions?

  Mock National Security Council Meeting

  • Assign the various positions on the President’s National Security Council team.  Reenact the internal administration discussions that occurred between August 2002 through March 2003 over whether to take the Iraq issue to the United Nations and then over the failed diplomatic effort to secure a UN vote explicitly authorizing war against Iraq.  Focus on the influence of various advisers on President Bush’s decisions.

  B. ADVANCED COURSES IN THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

  Discussion questions

  • The authors assert that President Bush’s revolution was not a revolution in America’s goals abroad, but rather in how to achieve them. How have foreign policy methods changed under President Bush’s leadership? How did he redefine key principles?
  • Explain the hegemonist worldview.  What distinguishes neoconservatives (or democratic imperialists) from assertive nationalists? 
  • Explain and evaluate the hegemonist critique of international law and multilateral institutions. 
  • Compare and contrast George W. Bush’s foreign policy doctrine with that of other American administrations.)
  • Explain the influence of the group known as the Vulcans on the President’s decision-making.
  • Evaluate how the Bush administration’s notion that nation-states are the key actors in international politics shaped its strategy on fighting terror.
  • Track the evolution of the administration’s doctrine of preemption and its impact on policy decisions. Evaluate its desired and undesired effects and consider whether it is still valid or necessary today.  Discuss the distinction (or lack thereof) between prevention and preemption.
  • Did George W. Bush change his approach to foreign policy at the start of his second term in office? 
  • To what extent did domestic political considerations guide George W. Bush’s handling of foreign policy?
  • George W. Bush came to the White House promising to be a CEO president.  To what extent should future presidents emulate his approach to the job?

  Mock World Diplomacy Session

  • Reenact the debate that took place in the weeks before and after the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1441 on November 8, 2002.  Assign roles, both from the Bush administration and foreign governments.  Each student must determine the “goals” of his or her character with the help of the book and contemporary articles.  Examine alternative methods and timing, while staying in line with each character’s motivations.  How would these have led to different outcomes?  America Unbound mentions at least one alternative scenario:  the earlier pursuit of a second resolution.  How would that scenario have played out?

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  Foreign Affairs Articles

  March/April 2006

  Intelligence, Policy, and the War in Iraq

  By Paul R. Pillar

  Summary

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  November/December 2003

  Remaking the World: Bush and the Neoconservatives

  By Joshua Micah Marshall

  Summary

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  January/February 2000

  Campaign 2000: Promoting the National Interest

  By Condoleezza Rice

  Summary

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  January/February 2005

  Grand Strategy in the Second Term

  Author:	John Lewis Gaddis

  Summary

   

   

  January/February 2004

  A Strategy of Partnerships

  Author:	Colin L. Powell, United States Army (Ret.)

  Summary

   

   

  May/June 2004

  The Decline of America's Soft Power

  Author:	Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Distinguished Service Professor, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

  Summary

   

   

  September/October 2004

  What Went Wrong in Iraq

  Author:	Larry Diamond

  Summary

   

   

  November/December

  The Sources of American Legitimacy

  Authors:	David C. Hendrickson Robert W. Tucker

  Summary

   

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  Books and Publications

  

  June 2005

  The Opportunity

  Author:	Richard N. Haass, President, Council on Foreign Relations

  This is a book that describes an unprecedented moment in which the United States has a chance to bring about a world where most people are safe, free, and can enjoy a decent standard of living.

   

   

  

  April 2004

  Power, Terror, Peace, and War

  Author:	Walter Russell Mead, Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy

  In Power, Terror, Peace, and War, Mead—one of the most original writers on U.S. foreign policy—provides a fascinating and timely account of the Bush administration’s foreign policy and its current grand strategy for the world.

   

   

  

  January 2004

  American Foreign Policy: Cases and Choices (Foreign Affairs Books)

   

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  Video

  February 17, 2006

  New Realities in the Media Age (audio)

  Speaker:	Donald H. Rumsfeld, United States Secretary of Defense
  Presider:	Kenneth I. Chenault, Chairman, American Express Company

  Listen to U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld address the Council on Foreign Relations on the war in Iraq and the challenges of modernizing U.S. forces' communications capabilities in "today's media age."

   

   

  October 26, 2005

  American Grand Strategy Series: American Power—Its Uses and Consequences (video)

  Speakers:

  Robert W. Merry, President and Publisher, Congressional Quarterly, Inc.; Author, Sands of Empire: Missionary Zeal, American Foreign Policy, and the Hazards of Global Ambition Nancy E. Soderberg, Vice President for Multilateral Affairs, International Crisis Group-New York; Author, The Superpower Myth: The Use and Misuse of American Might Stephen M. Walt, Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; Author, Taming American Power: The Global Response to U.S. Primacy

  Presider:

  Paul Kennedy, Director, International Security Studies and Dilworth Professor of History, Yale University

   

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  Audio

  December 7, 2005

  President George W. Bush Addresses the Council on Foreign Relations (audio)

  Speaker:	George W. Bush, President, United States of America

   

   

  April 28, 2005

  Transition 2005: Nonproliferation Policy in the Second Term

  Speakers:	Charles D. Ferguson, fellow, science and technology, Council on Foreign Relations Peter Huessy, senior associate, National Defense University Foundation
  Presider:	Carla A. Robbins, chief diplomatic correspondent, The Wall Street Journal

   

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  Transcripts

  February 17, 2006

  New Realities in the Media Age: A Conversation with Donald Rumsfeld [Rush Transcript; Federal News Service, Inc.]

  Speaker:	Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary, U.S. Department of Defense
  Presider:	Kenneth I. Chenault, Chairman, American Express Company

  U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld delivers an address at the Council on Foreign Relations on the war in Iraq and the challenges of modernizing U.S. forces'communications capabilities in "today's media age."

   

   

  October 4, 2004

  An Update on the Global War on Terror with Donald Rumsfeld

  Speaker:	Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. secretary of defense
  Presider:	Louis V. Gerstner Jr., former chairman, IBM Corporation

   

   

  February 24, 2004

  Campaign 2004: Foreign Policy in the Race for the Presidency

  Speakers:	Jeff Greenfield, senior political analyst, CNN Mark Halperin, political director, ABC News

   

   

  January 14, 2004

  The Role of Foreign Policy

  Speakers:	Edward Rollins, chairman, Rollins Strategy Group; Former White House Political Director and Republican Strategist Andrew Kohut, director, Pew Research Center for the People and the Press Douglas E. Schoen, partner, Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, Inc.

   

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  Interviews

  February 1, 2006

  Lindsay: Bush’s State of Union Address Underscores President’s ‘Political Weakness’

  James M. Lindsay, Director, Robert S. Strauss Center, University of Texas interviewed by Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor

   

   

  December 19, 2005

  Lindsay: Iraq Completely Dominates Bush’s Second Term

  James M. Lindsay, Director, Robert S. Strauss Center, University of Texas interviewed by Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor

   

   

  December 8, 2005

  Lindsay: Bush Trying to Convince Public Iraq Going Better Than They Think

  James M. Lindsay, Director, Robert S. Strauss Center, University of Texas interviewed by Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor

   

   

  November 17, 2005

  Daalder: Withdrawal Timetable From Iraq Not Useful, but Iraqis Must Be Told They Have to ‘Step Up’ Politically and Militarily in 2006

  Ivo H. Daalder interviewed by Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor

   

   

  October 11, 2005

  Lindsay: Successful Constitution Vote in Iraq Crucial to Bush Administration’s Iraq Policy

  James M. Lindsay, Director, Robert S. Strauss Center, University of Texas interviewed by Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor

   

   

  February 3, 2005

  Lindsay: Bush Sees Israeli-Palestinian Progress as Way to Improve European and Mideast Ties

  James M. Lindsay, Director, Robert S. Strauss Center, University of Texas interviewed by Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor

   

   

  January 20, 2005

  Lindsay: Inauguration Speech Marks a Second 'Bush Doctrine'

  James M. Lindsay, Director, Robert S. Strauss Center, University of Texas interviewed by Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor

   

   

  November 19, 2004

  Lindsay: Bush's Second Term: Major Problems, No Easy Solutions

  James M. Lindsay, Director, Robert S. Strauss Center, University of Texas interviewed by Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor

   

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  Additional Resources

  
  

  January 20, 2005

  President Sworn-In to Second Term

  By George W. Bush

  
  

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  September 26, 2005

  Bush’s Strategy, Assessed

  Author:	Walter Russell Mead, Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy

   

   

  September 26, 2004

  A Radical Change

  Authors:	James M. Lindsay, Director, Robert S. Strauss Center, University of Texas Ivo H. Daalder

   

   

  November 1, 2003

  Bush's Flawed Revolution

  Authors:	James M. Lindsay, Director, Robert S. Strauss Center, University of Texas Ivo H. Daalder

   

   

  October 1, 2003

  Unilateralism Disgraced

  Authors:	James M. Lindsay, Director, Robert S. Strauss Center, University of Texas Ivo H. Daalder

   

   

  September 1, 2003

  Nuclear Wal-Mart?

  Authors:	James M. Lindsay, Director, Robert S. Strauss Center, University of Texas Ivo H. Daalder

   

   

  November 16, 2002

  Policy Implications of the Bush Doctrine on Preemption

  Author:	Ivo H. Daalder

   

   

  January 31, 2006

  State of the Union Address, 2006

  Author:	George W. Bush

  Speech

   

   

  October 29, 2007

  U.S. STRATEGY AND POLITICS

   

• 

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  A Citizen's Guide
  to Africa

  

  To address the growing importance of Africa, the Council on Foreign Relations and Foreign Affairs present Beyond Humanitarianism, a collection of recent work that explains underlying trends on the continent and provides an absorbing look at Africa’s emergence as a strategic player on the world stage.

  

  

  May/June 2008

  • Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times calls "Beyond Darfur" by Andrew Natsios, an important article in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs.

  

  

  

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