Galvanized by the terrorist attacks of September 11, Bush has abandoned this approach to how America should engage in the world. With terrorists, tyrants, and technologies of mass destruction posing a grave and growing danger, he believes that the best—if not the only way—to ensure America's security is to jettison the constraints imposed by friends, allies, and international institutions. The United States will act as it sees fit to protect itself and its interests. Other countries will either follow or get out of the way.
Bush is, in many ways, a surprising foreign policy revolutionary. During the 2000 presidential campaign many doubted he had the background or the inclination to make a mark on international affairs. He was widely depicted as ill informed and uninterested about the world beyond America's borders. Most observers suspected that he would be guided—if not held captive—by his far more experienced advisers. His insistence during the campaign that Bill Clinton had overextended the United States abroad fueled suspicion that his presidency would drift toward isolationism.
This paper will be published as a chapter in The George W. Bush Presidency: An Early Assessment, edited by Fred I. Greenstein (Johns Hopkins University Press, forthcoming)
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