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America in Retreat

Foreign Policy under Donald Trump

Mel Gurtov

This deeply researched book offers a comprehensive analysis of the domestic politics and international consequences of Trump’s foreign policy. Mel Gurtov provides detailed case studies of policy toward key countries and regions, including China, Russia, North Korea, Europe, and the Middle East. He makes a vigorous argument, centered on human-interest priorities and values, for rejecting a foreign policy of neglect and ineptness when it comes to the major issues of our times: climate change, China’s rise, multiple US wars, human rights, authoritarian leadership, and nuclear weapons. Gurtov argues that Trump is a nationalist and illiberal populist whose policy views have been molded chiefly by his business practices, leading to an obsession with “winning,” elevation of ego and loyalty over expertise, and preference for threats over diplomacy. Trump holds to a few simple ideas about the US role in the world: too expensive, too subject to other countries and institutions, and too influenced by “globalist” concerns such as democracy, climate crisis, human rights, and the rule of law.

Trump will leave a deeply negative mark on the reputation and credibility of the United States, and on its policy-making process. But Gurtov concludes that a liberal successor should be able to reverse the worst features of the Trump era and restore foreign policy to its true purpose: exemplifying America’s commitment to humane and democratic governance and cooperative economic relations with allies and economic partners.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 212 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9

978-1-5381-4566-1 • Hardback • August 2020 • $93.00 • (£72.00)

978-1-5381-4567-8 • Paperback • August 2020 • $35.00 • (£30.00)

978-1-5381-4568-5 • eBook • August 2020 • $33.00 • (£25.00)

Series: World Social Change

Subjects: Political Science / American Government / Executive Branch, Political Science / International Relations / Diplomacy, Political Science / Peace

America in Retreat

Foreign Policy under Donald Trump

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

This deeply researched book offers a comprehensive analysis of the domestic politics and international consequences of Trump’s foreign policy. Mel Gurtov provides detailed case studies of policy toward key countries and regions, including China, Russia, North Korea, Europe, and the Middle East. He makes a vigorous argument, centered on human-interest priorities and values, for rejecting a foreign policy of neglect and ineptness when it comes to the major issues of our times: climate change, China’s rise, multiple US wars, human rights, authoritarian leadership, and nuclear weapons. Gurtov argues that Trump is a nationalist and illiberal populist whose policy views have been molded chiefly by his business practices, leading to an obsession with “winning,” elevation of ego and loyalty over expertise, and preference for threats over diplomacy. Trump holds to a few simple ideas about the US role in the world: too expensive, too subject to other countries and institutions, and too influenced by “globalist” concerns such as democracy, climate crisis, human rights, and the rule of law.

Trump will leave a deeply negative mark on the reputation and credibility of the United States, and on its policy-making process. But Gurtov concludes that a liberal successor should be able to reverse the worst features of the Trump era and restore foreign policy to its true purpose: exemplifying America’s commitment to humane and democratic governance and cooperative economic relations with allies and economic partners.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 212 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9

978-1-5381-4566-1 • Hardback • August 2020 • $93.00 • (£72.00)

978-1-5381-4567-8 • Paperback • August 2020 • $35.00 • (£30.00)

978-1-5381-4568-5 • eBook • August 2020 • $33.00 • (£25.00)

Series: World Social Change

Subjects: Political Science / American Government / Executive Branch, Political Science / International Relations / Diplomacy, Political Science / Peace

Author

Mel Gurtov is professor emeritus of political science at Portland State University and senior editor of Asian Perspective. His books include Engaging Adversaries: Peacemaking and Diplomacy in the Human Interest. His blog, In the Human Interest, can be found at https://melgurtov.com.

Table of Contents

Preface
1 We Were Warned
“America First”
The “Lone Ranger” Rides Again
The Fitness Issue
2 President Trump, in Person
The “Stable Genius”
“Trump at War” in America
Whose Side Are You On?
It’s All about Trump
3 Taking Sides
Damn the Experts
Two Camps
Shakedown: Trump’s Secret Agenda in Ukraine
All In for the Israeli Right
Compromised
4 Foreign Policy by Improvisation
Policy Making Off the Charts
The Politics of Trump’s Foreign Policy
The Myth of the Deep State
Two Terrible Disorders
Friends and Enemies
Trump’s Democracy Deficit
Corruption beyond Measure
Truth and Consequences
5 The Costs of Inexperience
His Own Worst Enemy
Sheriff without a Posse in Europe
Sandbagged: The Russia Connection
The China Conundrum
6 The (Lost) Art of the Deal
“Maximum Pressure”: North Korea
Pursuing Regime Change in Iran
Indecision and Indifference in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America
7 Dealing Away International Responsibility
Abandoning Human Rights
Amplifying the Nuclear Danger
Realism without Apology: Trump and Saudi Arabia
8 Business First
“Tariff Man”
Betraying Future Generations
9 Racism at the Border
Keeping People Out
A National Disgrace
10 Retreat and Advance
A Method to His Madness
The Costs of Trumpism
A Criminal Regime
Trump’s Nationalism—and Realism
Damage Control
Toward a Progressive US Foreign Policy
Where Are We Headed?
Notes
Bibliography

Reviews

This compact but wide-ranging book provides an authoritative analysis of America’s retreat from the world under President Donald Trump. The book will help the reader understand why, under President Trump, respect for and trust in the United States have plummeted in most of the world—including in long-standing U.S. allies such as Germany.

— New York Journal of Books

A masterpiece of thoroughgoing, humanely centered foreign policy analysis. Written with verve and critical insight, Gurtov’s latest book deserves serious attention from all citizens as well as specialists. And it comes at a moment in history when American democracy and diplomacy are being shattered by a renegade president. If we are faithful to Mel’s argument, America will return to global responsibility on nuclear weapons, climate change, human rights, and the rest of the human security agenda.

— Daniel Ellsberg, author of Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers

With his usual acuity, Mel Gurtov sees beyond the fray. This book lays bare how President Trump’s improvisational foreign policy relates to his divisive domestic politics, elucidating how and why this has damaged Washington’s standing in the world—and what a post-Trump America might do to begin to repair it.

— Carla P. Freeman, Johns Hopkins University

A timely and critical study of Donald Trump’s foreign policy, spotlighting the influences of his personality disorders—especially narcissism and lack of empathy—and his escalating confrontation with the world. Given the large gaps in Trump’s preparedness for the highest office, his ‘America First’ or ‘America Great’ slogan has become an ‘America Alone’ or ‘Trump First’ policy mantra with predictable negative consequences, as the title of this book makes clear. From a global-citizen, human-interest, and common-security perspective, Mel Gurtov concludes by appraising Trumpism, most importantly his administration’s impact on people and planet in an era of permanent war and climate crisis. His analysis is a must-read for all students of U.S. foreign policy and international relations as well as policy makers and an attentive public concerned about the shaping of a just and humane world order.

— Samuel S. Kim, Columbia University

America in Retreat

Foreign Policy under Donald Trump

Mel Gurtov

America in Retreat

Foreign Policy under Donald Trump

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