La politique étrangère des États-Unis

Abstract

Fondements, acteurs, formulationCharles-Philippe David, Louis Balthazar, and Justin VaisseParis: Presses de Sciences Po, 2003, 382pp, 29.80 paper (ISBN 2-7246-0919-0)At a time when it seems that the leaders of the United States and France have lost their good manners and common sense over Iraq, it is reassuring that a French press is capable of publishing a book on US foreign policy devoid of the current polemical debate on alleged American arrogance in international affairs or supposedly traditional French intransigence. This is certainly intrinsically linked to the choice of the three co-authors: two senior francophone Canadian scholars based at the Observatoire sur les Etats-Unis de l'Universite du Quebec a Montreal and one French historian with research interests in US foreign affairs, French anti-Americanism and US francophobia.The book succeeds well in its obvious purpose of providing students and the interested lay audience with a concise and comprehensive overview of the foundations and the formulation of US foreign policy since the American Revolution. The co-authors chose wisely to depart from the format, traditional in the English-speaking world, of narrating US foreign policy in presidential chapters or as a clash between idealism and realism. Instead, they have opted to divide the book into three thematic parts consisting of three or four chapters each.The first part--foundations--covers the constitutional basis for the conduct of foreign relations, the national style, the great political arguments since 1776 and modern academic interpretations. This section, which comprehensively discusses the various academic interpretations of US foreign relations in short and concise sketches (including a very useful overview table), impressed this reviewer in particular and will prove helpful to students at the start of their studies of US foreign relations or political science. The second part--agents--covers not only core topics such as the presidency but also the internal structures and role of the bureaucracies in the foreign policy process. The inclusion of the Department of Homeland Security serves as a great example of the book's relevance to current affairs. However, this reviewer would have preferred to see the discussion of that particular department in the context of the National Security Council, which is extensively covered in its own chapter, and of the history of the rise of the national security state since 1945. …