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Strategic Direction from the President

Jack Godwin
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Author_Jack Godwin
Case Studies
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Foreign Policy
forthcoming
International Politics
International Relations
National Security
Presidential Communication
Security Studies
U.S. Politics

Product details

  • ISBN 9798216450948
  • Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
  • Publication Date: 03 Sep 2026
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Paperback
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Description

Investigates the strategy and intent of the American president in pursuit of national security, using a case study approach spanning the last century.

Strategic Direction takes inspiration from the following sentence in Henry Kissinger’s Diplomacy: “In the American system of government, in which the president is the only nationally elected official, coherence in foreign policy emerges—if at all—from presidential pronouncements.” The conditional phrase—if at all—suggests coherence doesn’t happen by itself, doesn’t happen very often, and doesn’t last very long. Why not?

To answer this question, Strategic Direction uses a case study approach spanning 1915-2015. The first case study begins in 1915 when Woodrow Wilson justifies his decision to remain neutral in the first world war. The last case study ends in 2015 with a warning from Barack Obama about the risks of perpetual war. Through an exploration of verbal and written communication, including documents, executive orders, memorandums, and other materials, this book examines how presidents determine and pursue their foreign policy priorities.
About Jack Godwin
Jack Godwin is a political scientist and author of Office Politics (Career Press, 2013), Clintonomics (Amacom Books, 2009) and Arrow and the Olive Branch (Praeger, 2007). During the second Obama administration and the first Trump administration, Jack was Director of International Programs at National Defense University (NDU) and Associate Editor at NDU Press. Prior to this, he served many years as Chief International Officer at California State University, Sacramento. He was a Fulbright scholar in Britain, Canada, Germany, Hungary and Japan, and a Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon. Jack has a PhD from University of Hawaii, an MBA from San Francisco State University, and a BA from University of California.

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