In Understanding the Bush Doctrine: Psychology and Strategy in the Age of Terrorism leading scholars of U.S. 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, volume provides a comprehensive frame work with which to analyze the Bush Doctrine by identifying five central and interrelated elements of the doctrine-American preeminence, assertive realism, strategic stand-apart alliances, selective multilateralism, and democratic transformation. The essays in the volume examine the Doctrine in terms of these five key elements.

Give its centrality to American national security, and the fact the effects of it are likely to be felt well into the 21st century, Understanding the Bush Doctrine will provide a critically balanced and pointed assessment of the Bush Doctrine and its premises, as well as a fair appraisal of its implications and prospects

Table of Contents

I. The Foundations of the Bush Doctrine

1: The Bush Doctrine Considered
Stanley A. Renshon

2. International Relations Theory Meets World Politics: The Neoconservative vs. Realism Debate
Gerhard Alexander

II. The Bush Doctrine in the Post 9/11 World

3. The Convinced, the Skeptical, and the Hostile: American and World Public Opinion on the Bush Doctrine
Doug Foyle

4. The New Psychology of Alliances
Peter Suedfeld, Phillip Tetlock, and Rajiv Jhangiani

5. Illusory promises and strategic reality: rethinking the implications of strategic deterrence in a post-9/11 world
Willy Curtis

6. Deterrence in an Age of Asymmetric Rivals: Rogue Leaders and Terrorists
Jerrold Post

7. Preventive War and the Bush Doctrine:
Theoretical Logic and Historical Roots
Jack Levy

8. The Psychological Origins of Preventive War
Jonathan Renshon

9. The Democracy Doctrine of President George W. Bush
Marvin Zonis

III: The View From Abroad

10. The Bush Doctrine Abroad
Alexander Moens

11. Anti-Americanism: Seeing Ourselves in the Mirror of the United States
Janice Stein

IV: Conclusion-The Bush Doctrine in Perspective

12. Premature Obituary: The Future of the Bush Doctrine
Stanley A. Renshon
The City University of New York

13. The Bush Doctrine in Perspective
Peter Suedfeld
University of British Columbia