American foreign policy : Carter to Clinton / John Dumbrell.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-233) and index.

1. Introduction -- 2. Jimmy Carter and 'Global Community' -- 3. Carter in Crisis -- 4. Renewing America: Reagan and the Cold War, 1981-5 -- 5. The Reagan Doctrine: War and Coercive Diplomacy -- 6. Reagan: The Waning of the Cold War and Iran-Contra -- 7. President Bush: American Democracy and the End of the Cold War -- 8. Bush: Gulf War and New World Order -- 9. Clinton and Prospects for America's Future: New Priorities for Old?

Between the Presidencies of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, the assumptions, basis and context of American foreign policy was altered beyond recognition. American Foreign Policy: Carter to Clinton examines this momentous era in terms of four organising themes. First, it traces the legacy of the Vietnam conflict as it affected foreign policy under Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton. Second, it examines the ending of the Cold War and assesses the propects for post-Cold War US foreign relations.

Third, the book considers the debate over America's post-Vietnam international decline. Finally, it describes the conduct of US foreign policy since 1977, noting the degree to which such conduct has tended to be both undemocratic and unaccountable.