Nixon, Kissinger, and US Foreign Policy Making
The Machinery of Crisis

Siniver examines the workings of the Washington Special Actions Group during four Nixon-era foreign policy crises.

Asaf Siniver (Author)

9780521269520, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 31 March 2011

284 pages, 17 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.42 kg

Review of the hardback: 'Unlike many political scientists, Siniver embraces archival research in a manner that should satisfy the most exacting of historians. He narrates each of the four crises that he covers with admirable succinctness and analytical rigor. For anyone interested in the foreign policy of the Nixon administration, this book will yield fresh details, perspectives, and insights. It is highly recommended for diplomatic historians and scholars of international relations alike.' Journal of American Studies

Nixon, Kissinger, and US Foreign Policy Making examines for the first time the important role of crisis management in the making of US foreign policy during the Nixon-Kissinger years. The book offers a critical account of the manner in which the president and his national security advisor - notorious for their tight grip on the machinery of US foreign policy - dominated the structures and processes of foreign policy making. By drawing on a wealth of previously classified documents, Asaf Siniver reveals the story of the Washington Special Actions Group (WSAG), which managed foreign policy crises in the Nixon administration. In this thoroughly researched account of the performance of Nixon, Kissinger and the WSAG in four international crises, Siniver provides a fresh analysis of the important relationship among structures, processes and personalities in the making of US foreign policy during international crises.

1. Structures, processes, and personalities in US foreign policy
2. The making of US foreign policy during the Nixon-Kissinger years
3. The incursion into Cambodia, Spring 1970
4. The Jordanian crisis, September 1970
5. The India-Pakistan War, December 1971
6. The Yom Kippur War, October 1973.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], History of the Americas [HBJK]