Karine Prémont – författare

Since the advent of the contemporary US national security apparatus in 1947, entrepreneurial public officials have tried to reorient the course of the nation's foreign policy. Acting inside the National Security Council system, some principals and high-ranking officials have worked tirelessly to generate policy change and innovation on the issues they care about. These entrepreneurs attempt to set the foreign policy agenda, frame policy problems and solutions, and orient the decision-making process to convince the president and other decision makers to choose the course they advocate. In National Security Entrepreneurs and the Making of American Foreign Policy Vincent Boucher, Charles-Philippe David, and Karine Prémont develop a new concept to study entrepreneurial behaviour among foreign policy advisers and offer the first comprehensive framework of analysis to answer this crucial question: why do some entrepreneurs succeed in guaranteeing the adoption of novel policies while others fail? They explore case studies of attempts to reorient US foreign policy waged by National Security Council entrepreneurs, examining the key factors enabling success and the main forces preventing the adoption of a preferred option: the entrepreneur's profile, presidential leadership, major players involved in the policy formulation and decision-making processes, the national political context, and the presence or absence of significant opportunities. By carefully analyzing significant diplomatic and military decisions of the Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton administrations, and offering a preliminary account of contemporary national security entrepreneurship under presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump, this book makes the case for an agent-based explanation of foreign policy change and continuity.

In recent years, the office of the vice president has become a focal point of presidential politics and governance. From the emergence of the modern vice presidency under Walter Mondale to Mike Pence’s and Kamala Harris’s dramatic influence on the outcome of the 2020 election, Second in Command explores how vice presidents and vice-presidential candidates have shaped the direction of the country and changed American politics. The frenzy of speculation surrounding the “veepstakes” every four years and extensive media coverage of the vice-presidential debate may seem odd, given the vice presidency’s limited constitutional powers and dismal public reputation. Dispelling the myth that the vice presidency is a powerless or merely ceremonial role, Second in Command draws on the multidisciplinary expertise of more than a dozen leading vice-presidential scholars to reveal the complex, consequential, and often misunderstood nature of the office. With accessible language and vivid examples, it traces the transformation of vice-presidential power over the past half-century, reveals the evolving electoral significance of vice-presidential running mates, and highlights the need for a deeper public understanding of these pivotal figures. Chapters employ a range of qualitative and quantitative methodologies, including elite interviews, archival research, case studies, and advanced statistical modeling to cover topics such as gender and media effects in running mate selection and the representation of vice presidents in popular culture. This book offers a fresh, engaging, and essential perspective on a vital institution at the heart of American democracy.