Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: April 8, 2021 at 9:34:55 AM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-War]: Barrett on Johns and Lerner, 'The Cold War > at Home and Abroad: Domestic Politics and US Foreign Policy since 1945' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Andrew L. Johns, Mitchell B. Lerner, eds. The Cold War at Home and > Abroad: Domestic Politics and US Foreign Policy since 1945. Studies > in Conflict Diplomacy Peace Series. Lexington University Press of > Kentucky, 2018. 330 pp. $60.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8131-7573-7. > > Reviewed by Ryan Barrett (University of Missouri-St. Louis) > Published on H-War (April, 2021) > Commissioned by Margaret Sankey > > Editors Andrew L. Johns and Mitchell B. Lerner explain the > determinants of US foreign policy, and sometimes domestic policy, > through a series of case studies. They construct their narrative by > stitching together selected works that highlight key foreign policy > events. The authors of the various essays leverage agents, culture, > institutions, and policies to roughly chart the causes of these key > events. This narrative spans the Cold War period, from the post-World > War II era through the Ronald Reagan presidency. > > At first glance, the editors seem to be over ambitious in their > sweeping approach. But as the reader reaches chapter 6 of the text, > the cases form an integrated narrative. The qualitative approach > incorporates snapshots in time, building chronologically a rough > picture of the inputs and outputs of foreign policymaking. Although > never explicitly stated, the text leverages various models of > decision-making to explain US foreign policy outcomes. A filter in > which to read the text includes two of Graham Allison and Philip > Zelikow's three models of decision-making: the organizational process > or bureaucratic politics model, and governmental politics model. > > Almost none of the cases present the US government acting as a > rational actor. All of the cases explain the messy business of > policymaking through the lens of political agents, either bureaucrats > or politicians, public opinion, or the formation of special interests > into durable coalitions. The first chapter clearly leverages the > organizational process model of decision-making. The author provides > a detailed depiction of the post-World War II Department of State's > Office of Public Affairs in shaping foreign public opinion on US > policies. The author contends that such institutions had an outsized > influence on how external audiences viewed the United States, > particularly interventionist activities in Europe and East Asia. A > key factor in outlining these outputs includes the small and > secretive nature of this bureaucratic outfit. In later years, > Congress became highly skeptical of the office's operations and > secrecy, leading to its reduced funding and diminished role in > messaging to foreign audiences. > > The editors then shift to employing the governmental politics model, > via the cases of two members of Congress: Representative Marvin Laird > and Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson. These two agents provide useful, > differing examples of US foreign policy positions during the Cold > War. Laird, a Republican from rural Wisconsin, highlights the hawkish > but sometimes isolationist views of conservatives, while Jackson, a > Democrat from Washington State, epitomized the liberal > internationalist. > > After showcasing these prominent politicians, the method of the text > shifts from localized factors of policy formulation to nationalized > factors. During the 1970s and '80s, presidents continued to leverage > media and special interest groups to aggregate support for foreign > policies. Richard Nixon leveraged detente with the USSR and China to > promote his image and gain public support for various policies. His > surprise visit to China in 1972 epitomized this approach with the > media. Special interest groups formed coalitions to successfully > lobby Congress, including the Evangelical-Jewish alliance in > supporting Israel; the Cuban-American lobby, solidified during the > Reagan administration pursuing a hawkish anti-Communist stance; and > Vietnamese immigrants, who advocated for normalization of > US-Vietnamese relations, building a bipartisan consensus. > > In some cases, the authors highlight how the agents played, what > Robert Putnam coined, the Two-Level Games of negotiations. In the > case of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to the 1974 Trade Act, the author > highlights the role of Refusniks in forming a coalition of > like-minded groups to pressure ongoing US-Soviet trade negotiations. > By aggregating religious freedom, human rights, and anti-Communist > advocates, bodies like the Congressional Human Rights Caucus > developed a consensus around US-Soviet relations. > > Although most of the authors focus on the unidirectional nature of > foreign policy formulation, from domestic to international, two cases > specifically highlight the effects of foreign policy on domestic > politics. The first includes the Nixon administration's use of arms > control negotiations (SALT [Strategic Arms Limitation Talks] and ABM > [Anti-Ballistic Missile] treaties) with the USSR to affect domestic > politics, namely, Vietnam peace negotiations, as a way to suppress > domestic political discord. Nixon and his campaign team made these > key issues in the run-up to the 1972 election. To those who opposed > him, Nixon leveraged these foreign policy victories to push an > anti-patriotic, anti-Communist, and, ironically, peace message. > > The other case of foreign policy influencing domestic politics > includes the example of Reagan's military buildup of the 1980s. > During his eight years in the White House, defense spending increased > 35 percent (p. 247). Aside from the expansion of the military and the > Soviet reaction, this buildup caused three adverse outcomes: shifting > spending away from social programs caused domestic inequality; > shifting some types of defense spending from manufacturing to > IT-intense platforms and research and development had a > disproportionate adverse effect on people of color; and promoting a > "more government, less government" paradox led to fiscal imbalances. > This case not only displayed the effects of foreign policy on > domestic politics but now also seems prescient in light of > significant domestic polarization. Progressive politicians at the > time had little response, not wanting to appear weak, pushing many > voters to the right of the political spectrum. > > One deficiency of the text is a lack of clearly defined theoretical > frameworks. Each case adequately explains the factors of foreign > policymaking but rarely frames such analysis within hypotheses or > research questions. One exception is the final case, which outlines > three plausible explanations for Reagan's "reversal" leading up to > the 1984 election. Reagan abruptly adopted a softer tone toward the > Soviet Union in his reelection campaign. In his essay, Simon Miles > deftly lays out three competing causal theories: environmental > factors, the electoral politics model, and Reagan's own agency. > Although the author does not conclude definitively on any of the > theories, these frames provide adequate models for analyzing an > insightful question. In hindsight, Reagan's influence on domestic > politics, via foreign policy, affected the outcome of the 1984 > election in a landslide victory and resulted in long-lasting economic > implications for the United States. > > The text is insightful and a welcome alternative to the vast > quantitative studies on the political development of US foreign > policy. By stitching together a series of in-depth cases, the editors > and authors alike present a coherent analysis of Cold War foreign > policy and its domestic determinants. Not only can students leverage > this text to better understand key foreign policy events, and > challenge their analytical skills with a qualitative approach, but > readers can also learn about the state of both domestic and foreign > politics in the US today. If only more accessible texts like this > could reach wider audiences, then Americans could better understand > their own political system and the consequences of policymaking. > > Citation: Ryan Barrett. Review of Johns, Andrew L.; Lerner, Mitchell > B., eds., _The Cold War at Home and Abroad: Domestic Politics and US > Foreign Policy since 1945_. H-War, H-Net Reviews. April, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55803 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#7824): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/7824 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/81941839/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
