Transforming Our World

President George H. W. Bush and American Foreign Policy

Edited by Andrew S. Natsios and Andrew H. Card, Jr.

From the fall of the Soviet Union to the Gulf War, the presidency of George H. W. Bush dealt with foreign policy challenges that would cement the post-Cold War order for a generation. This book brings together a distinguished collection of foreign policy practitioners – career and political – who participated in the unfolding of international events as part the Bush administration to provide insider perspective by the people charged with carrying them out. They shed new light on and analyze President Bush’s role in world events during this historic period, his style of diplomacy, the organization and functioning of his foreign policy team, the consequences of his decisions, and his leadership skills. At a time when the old American-led post-World War II order is eroding or even collapsing, this book reminds readers of the difference American leadership in the world can make and how a president can manage a highly successful foreign policy.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 288 • Trim: 6½ x 9½

978-1-5381-4344-5 • Hardback • January 2021 • $42.00 • (£35.00)

978-1-5381-4345-2 • eBook • January 2021 • $39.50 • (£30.00)

Subjects: Political Science / Public Policy / Military Policy, Political Science / American Government / National, Political Science / International Relations / General

Transforming Our World

President George H. W. Bush and American Foreign Policy

Hardback

Summary

From the fall of the Soviet Union to the Gulf War, the presidency of George H. W. Bush dealt with foreign policy challenges that would cement the post-Cold War order for a generation. This book brings together a distinguished collection of foreign policy practitioners – career and political – who participated in the unfolding of international events as part the Bush administration to provide insider perspective by the people charged with carrying them out. They shed new light on and analyze President Bush’s role in world events during this historic period, his style of diplomacy, the organization and functioning of his foreign policy team, the consequences of his decisions, and his leadership skills. At a time when the old American-led post-World War II order is eroding or even collapsing, this book reminds readers of the difference American leadership in the world can make and how a president can manage a highly successful foreign policy.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 288 • Trim: 6½ x 9½

978-1-5381-4344-5 • Hardback • January 2021 • $42.00 • (£35.00)

978-1-5381-4345-2 • eBook • January 2021 • $39.50 • (£30.00)

Subjects: Political Science / Public Policy / Military Policy, Political Science / American Government / National, Political Science / International Relations / General

Author

Andrew S. Natsios served as Director of USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) during the George H.W. Bush Administration, where he oversaw the U.S. relief effort in several humanitarian emergencies. Currently, he is an executive professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University and director of the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs.
Andrew H. Card, Jr. was named Interim CEO of the George & Barbara Bush Foundation in June 2020. He continues to serve as Chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a non-profit organization dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world, a position he assumed in January 2018. Card has also held numerous positions at senior levels of government under three Presidents throughout the years, including Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush, where Card became the second longest tenured White House Chief of Staff. Card served as Deputy Chief of Staff to President George H.W. Bush, as well as U.S. Secretary of Transportation, and served President Ronald Reagan as a Deputy Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs. He also served eight years in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Table of Contents

Transforming our World: Introduction
Andrew Natsios
Chapter 1: Ten Foreign Policy Maxims of a Great President
James A. Baker III
Chapter 2: The Compassionate Realist: An Overview
Richard Haass
Chapter 3: The Accidental Diplomat: Staffing Foreign Policy
Chase Untermeyer
Chapter 4: Remaking of the NSC Staff: Bush, Scowcroft and Institutional Reform
Jane Holl Lute
Chapter 5: The End of the Cold War and the Reunification of Germany
Condoleezza Rice and Philip Zelikow
Chapter 6: President George H.W. Bush: A Stroke of Luck for Germany
Horst Teltschik
Chapter 7: President George H.W. Bush’s China Policy
Douglas Paal
Chapter 8: “This Will Not Stand”: the Liberation of Kuwait
Robert Kimmitt
Chapter 9: George H.W. Bush: Politics and Realism in the Middle East
Dennis Ross
Chapter 10: Constructing the Alliance to Liberate Kuwait
Edward Djerejian
Chapter 11: Saving the Kurds: Humanitarian Intervention in Northern Iraq
Dayton Maxwell and Andrew Natsios
Chapter 12: President George H.W. Bush’s Historic Contributions to Open Trade
Carla Hills
Chapter 13: President George H.W Bush and the United Nations
Thomas Pickering
Chapter 14: President George H.W Bush and the Exercise of U.S. Power for Human Rights and Humanitarian Purposes
Nancy Bearg
Chapter 15: Somalia Revisited: President Bush and Operation Restore Hope
James Kunder
Chapter 16: “To Make Kinder the Face of the Nation and Gentler the Face of the World”: Humanitarian Leadership During the Presidency of George H.W. Bush
Catherine Bertini
Chapter 17: The Morning After
Jean Becker

Reviews

In this laudatory and highly technical essay anthology, Natsios and other alumni of the George H.W. Bush administration detail their former boss’s foreign policy achievements.... Natsios and his cohorts succeed in burnishing Bush’s legacy and advocating for a gradualist, multilateral approach to foreign policy. Students of international affairs will find this collection of insider perspectives illuminating.

— Publishers Weekly

. . . an insiders’ account of the foreign policy “successes” and “achievements” of President George H. W. Bush.

— New York Journal of Books

Transforming Our World offers a compelling example of how, with effective leadership, the judicious use of U.S. power, and a clear sense of purpose, U.S. foreign policy can both serve core national interests and make a constructive impact on world politics.

— H-Diplo Reviews

Features

1/14/21, KXXV ABC: Authors and book featured in an article. Link:
https://www.kxxv.com/brazos/lessons-learned-from-foreign-policy-of-george-h-w-bush-officially-released

Transforming Our World

President George H. W. Bush and American Foreign Policy

Edited by Andrew S. Natsios and Andrew H. Card, Jr.

Transforming Our World

President George H. W. Bush and American Foreign Policy

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