Understanding the Bush Doctrine Psychology and Strategy in an Age of Terrorism

In this volume, leading scholars of US foreign policy, international relations, and political psychology examine one of the most consequential and controversial statements of national security policy in contemporary American history. Unlike other books which focus only on unilateralism or preventive war, Stanley A. Renshon and Peter Suedfeld provide a comprehensive framework with which to analyze the Bush Doctrine by identifying five central and interrelated elements of the doctrine:

• American pre-eminence
• assertive realism
• equivocal alliances
• selective multilateralism
• democratic transformation.

Given its centrality to American national security, and the fact that the effects of it are likely to be felt well into the twenty-first century, Understanding the Bush Doctrine will provide a critically balanced and pointed assessment of the Bush Doctrine and its premises, as well asa fair appraisal of its implications and prospects.

I. Introduction1. The Bush Doctrine: Psychological Foundations, Real World Consequences, Stanely Renshon and Peter SuefeldII. The Post 9/11 World2. Public Opinion in a Dangerous World, Doug Foyle 3. The New Psychology of Alliances, Peter Suedfeld III. Offensive Realism4. International Relations Theory Meets World Politics: The Neoconservative vs. Realism Debate, Gerhard Alexander 5. The Psychological Origins of Preventive War, Jonathan B. Renshon 6. The Fate of Deterrence in the Post 9/11 World, Richard Ned Lebow 7. Deterrin Rouge Leaders, Jerrold Post IV. Risky Choices: The Bush Doctrine in Practice8. War, Post 9/11: Preventive Logic, the 2003 Iraq War, and the Bush Doctrine, Jack Levy 9. Iraq: A Historical Analogy in the Making, Phil Tetlock 10. Democracy and the Bush Doctrine, Marvin Zonis V. Conclusion: The Bush Doctrine in Perspective11. The Bush Doctrine in Perspective, Alexander Moens 12. Anti-Americanism, National Identity and the Bush Doctrine, Janice Stein 13. Premature Obituary: The Future of the Bush Doctrine, Stanley A. Renshon

Stanley A. Renshon is a professor of political science at the City University of New York. He is also coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Program in the Psychology of Social and Political Behavior at the City University of New York Graduate Center. He is the author or editor of twelve books. He is currently working on a full length book on the Bush Doctrine. Peter SuedfeldisDean Emeritus of Graduate Studies and Professor Emeritus of Psychology at The University of British Columbia.