Pandora's Trap

How important is presidential personality and leadership style in foreign policy decisions? To answer this question, Thomas Preston takes readers inside the Bush administration's decision making process and use of intelligence to better understand how administration officials justified the Iraq War-and how they sought to avoid blame for the consequences of their actions. Based on extensive interviews with key Bush administration officials, Preston offers students of American foreign policy, presidential decision making, the dynamics of blame avoidance, and future practitioners with an in depth examination of how presidential personality and leadership style impacted Bush's central foreign policy failure. In addition, Preston looks critically at the oft-cited comparisons of Iraq to Lyndon Johnson's leadership during the Vietnam War, exploring where the analogy fits and a number of important differences. He shows how both presidents' styles exacerbated their managerial weaknesses in these cases and the limits of blame avoidance strategies. Importantly, the book provides a cautionary tale for future leaders to consider more carefully the long-term consequences of satisfying their short term policy desires by lifting the lid to any new Pandora's trap.

Thomas Preston is the C. O. Johnson Distinguished Professor of Political Science in the Department of Politics, Philosophy, and Public Policy at Washington State University. He currently serves as Associate Departmental Chair and Director of Graduate Studies, Director of the M.A. in Global Justice and Security Studies (GJSS) program, and as a member of the board of directors for the Institute for the Study of Intercommunal Conflict at WSU. His current research involves a number of projects on nuclear/biological weapons proliferation, the affect of expertise on political leaders, and the psychology of bioterrorism. He frequently serves as a consultant for various U.S. governmental departments and agencies. Dr. Preston has published a number of books and articles including From Lambs to Lions.