March’s Books of the Month
The theme of this month’s books is that they’re both about how the policy hangover left by the Bush administration. The international relations book is Francis Fukuyama’s America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy. This short book provides a nice summary of Fukuyama’s take on neoconservatism, why he parted ways with other ...
The theme of this month's books is that they're both about how the policy hangover left by the Bush administration. The international relations book is Francis Fukuyama's America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy. This short book provides a nice summary of Fukuyama's take on neoconservatism, why he parted ways with other neocons on the war with Iraq, and where to go from here. I've only gotten through the first chapter so far, but the book does an excellent job of providing an intellectual history of neoconservative thought. Like Matt Yglesias, I'm not exactly sure how Fukuyama's "realistic Wilsonianism" is different from "just regular old liberal internationalism," but I haven't finished the book yet, so give me time. UPDATE: Well, now I've finished it, and it turns out Fukuyama thinks the same thing on p. 215: "What I have labeled realistic Wilsonianism could be alternatively described as a hard-headed liberal internationalism." The general interest book for this month is Bruce Bartlett's Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy. Publisher's Weekly has a concise symmary: Bartlett's attack boils down to one key premise: Bush is a shallow opportunist who has cast aside the principles of the "Reagan Revolution" for short-term political gains that may wind up hurting the American economy as badly as, if not worse than, Nixon's did. As part of a simple, point-by-point critique of Bush's "finger-in-the-wind" approach to economic leadership, Bartlett singles out the Medicare prescription drug bill of 2003? "the worst piece of legislation ever enacted"?as a particularly egregious example of the increases in government spending that will, he says, make tax hikes inevitable. Bush has further weakened the Republican Party by failing to establish a successor who can run in the next election, Bartlett says. If the Reaganites want to restore the party's tradition of fiscal conservatism and small government, he worries, let alone keep the Democrats out of the White House, they will have their work cut out for them. How damning is the book? The Bush administration could not send anyone rebut Bartlett at a Cato forum on Bartlett's thesis. Impostor really should be read with Hacker and Pierson's Off Center, because the two make for a very interesting comparison. Hacker and Pierson don't like Bush because they think he and his Congressional allies have shifted policy in a dramatically rightward direction. Bartlett doesn't like Bush because he thinks Bush and his allies have shifted policy in a dramatically Nixonian direction. The chapters in both books on Bush and regulation make for very interesting reading. [SIDE NOTE: Hacker and Pierson have written a response to my Forum book review. University types can access it here. I may respond to their response if I find the time.] Go check them out!!
The theme of this month’s books is that they’re both about how the policy hangover left by the Bush administration. The international relations book is Francis Fukuyama’s America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy. This short book provides a nice summary of Fukuyama’s take on neoconservatism, why he parted ways with other neocons on the war with Iraq, and where to go from here. I’ve only gotten through the first chapter so far, but the book does an excellent job of providing an intellectual history of neoconservative thought. Like Matt Yglesias, I’m not exactly sure how Fukuyama’s “realistic Wilsonianism” is different from “just regular old liberal internationalism,” but I haven’t finished the book yet, so give me time. UPDATE: Well, now I’ve finished it, and it turns out Fukuyama thinks the same thing on p. 215: “What I have labeled realistic Wilsonianism could be alternatively described as a hard-headed liberal internationalism.” The general interest book for this month is Bruce Bartlett’s Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy. Publisher’s Weekly has a concise symmary:
Bartlett’s attack boils down to one key premise: Bush is a shallow opportunist who has cast aside the principles of the “Reagan Revolution” for short-term political gains that may wind up hurting the American economy as badly as, if not worse than, Nixon’s did. As part of a simple, point-by-point critique of Bush’s “finger-in-the-wind” approach to economic leadership, Bartlett singles out the Medicare prescription drug bill of 2003? “the worst piece of legislation ever enacted”?as a particularly egregious example of the increases in government spending that will, he says, make tax hikes inevitable. Bush has further weakened the Republican Party by failing to establish a successor who can run in the next election, Bartlett says. If the Reaganites want to restore the party’s tradition of fiscal conservatism and small government, he worries, let alone keep the Democrats out of the White House, they will have their work cut out for them.
How damning is the book? The Bush administration could not send anyone rebut Bartlett at a Cato forum on Bartlett’s thesis. Impostor really should be read with Hacker and Pierson’s Off Center, because the two make for a very interesting comparison. Hacker and Pierson don’t like Bush because they think he and his Congressional allies have shifted policy in a dramatically rightward direction. Bartlett doesn’t like Bush because he thinks Bush and his allies have shifted policy in a dramatically Nixonian direction. The chapters in both books on Bush and regulation make for very interesting reading. [SIDE NOTE: Hacker and Pierson have written a response to my Forum book review. University types can access it here. I may respond to their response if I find the time.] Go check them out!!
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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