Grand Strategy and the Presidency: Foreign Policy, War and the American Role in the World

Strategy and History

by C. Dale Walton

This book examines the role and importance of the Presidency in the formulation and conduct of US grand strategy. The text discusses US strategic history, with particular emphasis on the period from the end of the Cold War to the present day. While the United States periodically has enjoyed exceptional presidential leadership in the past, this book argues that few future presidents will meet high standards of leadership in foreign affairs. In turn, this will undermine the ability of the United States to construct and maintain a coherent grand strategy appropriate to the multipolar world of the twenty-first century. Grand Strategy and the Presidency explores the role that the holders of the presidential office have played in the past development of the United States as a great power. Drawing upon examples from history, the textual analysis is shaped around the description of the long-term strategic development of the United States. The author then considers what the events of recent decades portend for the future of US strategy and foreign policy. This book will be of interest to students of Presidential Studies, US foreign policy, Strategic Studies, and IR/Security Studies in general.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Dr. C. Dale Walton is Program Chair and Professor of International Relations at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri, as well as a Senior Research Fellow with the John W. Hammond Institute for Free Enterprise.

He has also taught at the University of Reading in England and Missouri State University.

His research interests include strategic relationships and security problems in Asia, geopolitics and the changing geostrategic environment, and U.S. military strategic history. In addition to his three books, he has published more than 70 book chapters, articles and reviews.

Walton received his Ph.D. from the University of Hull, in England, where he was an H.B. Earhart Fellow; his M.S. from Missouri State University; and his B.A. (magna cum laude) from the University of New Mexico.