The Presidency and National Security: Presidential Foreign Policymaking, 1945-1999

Busby, Robert. Reagan and the Iran-Contra Affair: The Politics of Presidential Recovery. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. Pp. xi, 222. $65.00, hardbound.

Garrison, Jean A. Games Advisors Play: Foreign Policy in the Nixon and Carter Administrations. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1999. Pp. xi, 192. $34.95, hardbound.

Hogan, Michael J. A Cross of Iron: Harry S. Truman and the Origins of the National Security State, 1945-1954. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. v, 525. $37.95, hardbound.

Hyland, William G. Clinton's World: Remaking American Foreign Policy. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1999. Pp. i, 221. $24.95, hardbound.     

The Norwegian 9/11: In the Church Without a Bible

The article identifies roles and conditions for the Bible within modern politics in the West. By comparing the official Norwegian response to the terror attack in Oslo July 22, 2011, with the similar response in the US on September 11, 2001, it is explained why the Bible is nearly absent in the official discourse of Norwegian Prime Ministers. While religion resurfaced in the process of national recuperation with the Cathedral of Oslo as a center for mass ritualization and national grief, the biblical legacy played no part in the Prime Minister's speech. The primary political leader of the Norwegian state has rarely bolstered his argument with the Bible, although this state has officially adhered to a Protestant confession from its Constitution in 1814. The Liberal Bible that appears to be operative in US presidential discourse is not playing a major role on a comparable political level in Norway.     

Terrorism,Terror, and 9/11: a Review Essay

Fatal Future? Transnational Terrorism and the New Global Disorder. Richard M. Pearlstein. Al‐Qaeda: Casting a Shadow of Terror. Jason Burke. Why? The Deeper History Behind the September 11th Terrorist Attack on America. 2nd ed. Expanded and Updated. J. W. Smith. The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11. David Ray Griffin “foreword by Richard Falk”.     

Dealing with Soviet Power and Influence:Eisenhower's Management of U.S. National Security

Book reviewed in this article:
Robert Bowie and Richard H. Immerman, Waging Peace: How Eisenhower Shaped an Enduring Cold War Strategy     

The 9/11 Events: A Precursor to the Arab Spring

Despite the fact that the Arab revolutions that swept important Arab countries by the beginning of 2011 from North Africa to the Middle East were the result of precarious economic and social conditions, still the causes and roots of these uprisings at that very moment indicate some inherent potential drives that are the result of years of simmering. The United States had long supported the expansion of democracy in the world, but the Arab world had always been seen as an exception. The September 11 events destroyed that approach to the Middle East. Accordingly, all attempts to explain the uprisings have been overwhelmed and distorted by the concurrent conditions of the Arab world in relation to its social, political, and cultural deficit. However, the underpinnings of the Arab revolutions can be traced to a distrust of people in their governments and a deep understanding of the new world order triggered by the 9/11 events and the invasion of Iraq. This article traces the impact of the 9/11 events on the Arab mindset ever since the Iraq war and how it resulted in the turmoil of the Arab revolutions.