Statesmanship

Annotation. The first study to examine More's complete works in view of his concept of statesmanship and, in the process, link his humanism, faith, and legal and political vocations into a coherent narrative.b.

This book, much needed in our public discourse, examines some of the most significant political leaders in American history. With an eye on the elusive qualities of political greatness, this anthology considers the principles and practices of diverse political leaders who influenced the founding and development of the American experiment in self-government. Providing both breadth and depth, this work is a virtual “who’s who” from the founding to modern times. From George Washington to Frederick Douglass and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to FDR and Ronald Reagan, the book’s twenty-six chapters are thematically organized to include a brief biography of each subject, his or her historical context, and the core principles and policies that led to political success or failure. A final chapter considers the rhetorical legacy of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. Nearly all readers agree that statesmanship makes a crucial difference in the life of a nation and its example is sorely needed in America today. These concise portraits will appeal to experts as well as history buffs. The volume is ideal for leadership and political science classroom use in conjunction with primary sources. Contributors: Kenneth L. Deutsch, Gary L. Gregg II, David Tucker, Sean D. Sutton, Bruce P. Frohnen, Stephanie P. Newbold, Phillip G. Henderson, Michael P. Federici, Troy L. Kickler, Johnathan O’Neill, H. Lee Cheek, Jr., Carey Roberts, Hans Schmeisser, Joseph R. Fornieri, Peter C. Myers, Emily Krichbaum, Natalie Taylor, Jean M. Yarbrough, Christopher Burkett, Will Morrisey, Elizabeth Edwards Spalding, Patrick J. Garrity, Giorgi Areshidze, William J. Atto, David B. Frisk, Mark Blitz, Jeffrey Crouch, and Mark J. Rozell.

The text begins with the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the United States, explaining how the Declaration contains all the underlying principles and truths that our country was founded on, and continues on through the writing of the Constitution and the forming of the government, and how the founding fathers incorporated all the fundamental principles within the Constitution. The program next discusses the challenges our country faced in the past and how they were eventually solved, and how those same problems apply to America today.

Magnanimity and Statesmanship, a collection of studies by a number distinguished political scientists, traces the changing understanding of great political leadership through the history of political philosophy. Covering thinkers from Aristotle to Nietzsche, and including treatments of such statesmen as Washington and Churchill, the book addresses the timely question: What makes for great statesmanship?

A political scientist who went on to become president, Woodrow Wilson envisioned a "responsible government" in which a strong leader and principled party would integrate the separate executive and legislative powers. His ideal, however, was constantly challenged by political reality. Daniel Stid explores the evolution of Wilson's views on this form of government and his endeavors as a statesman to establish it in the United States. The author looks over Professor and then President Wilson's shoulder as he grappled with the constitutional separation of powers, demonstrating the importance of this effort for American political thought and history. Although Wilson is generally viewed as an unstinting and effective opponent of the separation of powers, the author reveals an ambivalent statesman who accommodated the Founders' logic. This book challenges both the traditional and revisionist views of Woodrow Wilson by documenting the moderation of his statesmanship and the resilience of the separation of powers. In doing so, it sheds new light on American political development from Wilson's day to our own. Throughout the twentieth century, political scientists and public officials have called for constitutional changes and political reforms that were originally proposed by Wilson. By reexamining the dilemmas presented by Wilson's program, Stid invites a reconsideration of both the expectations we place on the presidency and the possibilities of leadership in the Founders' system. The President as Statesman contributes significantly to ongoing debates over Wilson's legacy and raises important questions about the nature of presidential leadership at a time when this issue is at the forefront of public consciousness.

As US power grew after WWI, officials and nonprofits joined to promote citizen participation in world affairs. David Allen traces the rise and fall of the Foreign Policy Association, a public-education initiative that retreated in the atomic age, scuttling dreams of democratic foreign policy and solidifying the technocratic national security model.

No British periodical or weekly magazine has a richer and more distinguished archive than The New Statesman, which has long been at the centre of British political and cultural life. Some astonishing things were first published in its pages: great poems such as W.B. Yeats' "Easter 1916"and Edward Thomas's "Adlestrop"; H.G. Wells' interview with Stalin in 1934; C.P. Snow's "Two Cultures" essay; Christopher Hitchens' final interview, conducted by Richard Dawkins; and Hugh Grant's "The bugger bugged". Most of the great political and cultural writers of the recent past have written for The New Statesman. Many have been on its staff or were associates of it: George Bernard Shaw, John Maynard Keynes, V.S. Pritchett, Paul Johnson and John Gray. The most significant intellectual and cultural currents of the age ripple through its pages. Many of the radical causes of our times were launched in association with or in the pages of The New Statesman. For example, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and Charter 88. There is, too, a rich history of illustration and cartoons to draw on, from Low's sketches of the great and the good to the gonzo art of Ralph Steadman and Will Self's early comic strips. The book is more than an anthology. It tells the story of the New Statesman, from the eve of the First World War to the long aftermath of 9/11 and the Great Recession through which we are still passing. It looks forward as well as back, offering a unique and unpredictable perspective on the world.

"At a time when the forces of administrative despotism are on the march and Winfreyesque rhetoric passes for moral leadership and intellectual sophistication, Brian Danoff and L. Joseph Hebert, Jr., have assembled a compelling collection of timely essays on the political thought of Alexis de Tocqueville, that liberal thinker of the first rank who endeavored to see f̀urther than the parties' without any pretense to post-partisanship, who understood that more democracy is not always the answer to every problem of democracy, and who concerned himself with educating democratic peoples so that they may live together as free citizens rather than exist independently as dependent subjects. This fine collection situates Tocqueville within the history of ideas, ancient and modern, and examines the significance of his observations, predictions, and prescriptions as they pertain to a wide variety of topics with contemporary relevance. The chapters in this volume articulate the proper relationship between political theory, political science, and political practice, emphasizing the necessity for genuine republican statesmanship while honestly wondering about its chances given the trajectory of late modern America."--Travis D. Smith. Concordia University, Montreal.

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Describes the statesmen who participated in the last glory days of the Senate, describing their leadership through the crisis years of the 1970s before the 1980 election signaled the start of a period of diminished effectiveness.