Derek Chollet

A portrait of the effectiveness of moderation in US foreign policy, as illustrated by three of America's most consequential and widely-admired postwar presidents: Dwight Eisenhower, George H. W. Bush, and Barack Obama. When thinking about Americas role in the world, Dwight Eisenhower, George H. W. Bush, and Barack Obama may not seem to have a lot in common. But they do. While divided by background, generation, and political party, they exemplify a distinct and underappreciated tradition of American leadership: The Middle Way. As the scholar and former senior foreign policy official Derek Chollet shows in this deeply researched book, these three presidents took a centrist -- and effective -- approach to foreign policy. With so many challenges facing the United States, Chollet makes the case for why the nation must reclaim this brand of leadership, learn from it, and champion it. This timely book blends history, politics and biography to reveal how these presidents viewed the world and approached the task of leadership. By providing behind-the-scenes accounts and incisive analysis of the foreign policies of Ike, Bush 41, and Obama, The Middle Way offers a fresh way of thinking about American power. It shows how these three leaders defined a foreign policy archetype too often obscured by partisan blinders and historical amnesia. With vivid story-telling and astute insights, Chollet makes a compelling argument for how we should remember the past, think about the present, and approach the policy challenges of tomorrow. Eisenhower, Bush, and Obama demonstrated how the United States can exercise prudent and powerful authority in the world, and they stand as exemplars of decency, humility, optimism, confidence, and pragmatism. Together, they set the bar for the kind of global leadership needed today -- and The Middle Way reminds both Americans and the world that this proud legacy not only persists, but is needed more than ever.

Survival, the bi-monthly publication from The International Institute for Strategic Studies, is a leading forum for analysis and debate of international and strategic affairs. With a diverse range of authors, thoughtful reviews and review essays, Survival is scholarly in depth while vivid, well-written and policy-relevant in approach. Shaped by its editors to be both timely and forward-thinking, the publication encourages writers to challenge conventional wisdom and bring fresh, often controversial, perspectives to bear on the strategic issues of the moment.

In this inside assessment of Barack Obama's foreign policy legacy, Derek Chollet tackles the prevailing consensus to argue that Obama has profoundly altered the course of American foreign policy for the better and positioned the United States to lead in the future. The Long Game combines a deep sense of history with new details and compelling insights into how the Obama Administration approached the most difficult global challenges. With the unique perspective of having served at the three national security power centres during the Obama years- the White House, State Department, and Pentagon- Chollet takes readers behind the scenes of the intense struggles over the most consequential issues: the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the meltdown of Syria and rise of ISIS, the Ukraine crisis and a belligerent Russia, the conflict in Libya, the tangle with Iran, the turbulent relationship with Israel, and the rise of new powers like China. An unflinching, fast-paced account of U. S. foreign policy, The Long Game reveals how Obama has defied the Washington establishment to redefine America's role in the world, offering important lessons for the next president.

Richard Holbrooke, who died in December 2010, was a pivotal player in U. S. diplomacy for more than forty years. Most recently special envoy for Iraq and Afghanistan under President Obama, Holbrooke also served as assistant secretary of state for both Asia and Europe, and as ambassador to both Germany and the United Nations. He had a key role in brokering a peace agreement among warring factions in Bosnia that led to the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995. Widely regarded to possess one of the most penetrating minds of any modern diplomat of any nation, Holbrooke was also well known for his outsized personality, and his capacity to charm and offend in equally colossal measures. In this book, the friends and colleagues who knew him best survey his accomplishments as a diplomat, activist, and author. Excerpts from Holbrooke's own writings further illuminate each significant period of his career. The Unquiet American is both a tribute to an exceptional public servant and a backstage history of the last half-century of American foreign policy.

On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall collapsed, taking the Cold War down with it. The next twelve years passed in a haze of self-congratulation, Republican confusion, and angst, and economic prosperity,until they ended abruptly with a stunning catastrophe on September 11, 2001. In America Between The Wars , Derek Chollet and James Goldgeier blend deep expertise with broad access to both parties' political and policy establishments to find out how,and why,America failed to recognize that when we became the sole superpower with responsibility for the world's oversight, we overlooked how the new world actually worked.