Cycles in US Foreign Policy Since the Cold War.

• Author: Ozdemir, Cagatay
• Position: Book review

Cycles in US Foreign Policy Since the Cold War

By Thomas H. Henriksen

Palo Alto, California: Palgrave Macmillian, 2017, 335 pages, $106.08, ISBN: 9783319748528

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the U.S. has confronted a very broad spectrum of problems. The return of great power rivalries with a rising China, a resurgent Russia, and a self-reliant European Union have changed the international environment. Furthermore, nuclear weapons, energy dependence, and regional problems in the Middle East and Af-rica are now viewed differently, and America has not been a bystander in this changing en-vironment. Within this context, Cycles in US Foreign Policy Since the Cold War, by Thomas H. Henriksen, aims at analyzing post-Cold War American foreign policy by focusing on how and why American responses fluctuate toward overseas challenges. The main argumentation is based on the proposition that American foreign policy cycles have alter-nated between engagement and disengage-ment in global affairs. By concentrating on the post-1989 era, Henriksen analyzes the de-cisions of four American presidents (George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama) and attempts to unravel the complexities of U.S. politics with special attention given to the formulation of U.S. for-eign policy. Henriksen also aspires to make the study of cycles an enlightening factor in appreciating the past and in offering a fore-cast for the future.

The author's detailed narration is composed of a long introduction, four chapters, and a brief conclusion. In the introduction, the author explains his hypothesis, which is based on the observation that post-Cold War U.S. foreign policy has swung between the poles of active international involvement and dis-engagement. Accordingly, cycles of international engagement coincide with the use of direct military power or diplomatic pressure against other nations or entities, while cycles of interna-tional disengagement reflect a strong domestic orientation and dissociation from risky over-seas problems. Although Henriksen concen-trates on the post-1989 era, he emphasizes that cyclical swings between international engagement and disengagement have appeared since the founding of the Republic; as the United States rose to be a world power, the pendulum phenomenon materialized most dramatically in the 20th century.

The first chapter deals with the George H. W. Bush era. It begins by pinpointing the role of the U.S. which emerged as...