Shifrinson Quoted in Vox Article on John Bolton’s Memoir & Foreign Policy Approach
Joshua Shifrinson, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was quoted in a recent Vox article discussing the new book by former National Security Advisor John Bolton, The Room Where It Happened.
The article explores Bolton’s hawkish nature and discusses a number of instances outlined in his book where he had pushed President Trump to take more aggressive action against foreign adversaries such as Iran and North Korea. Shifrinson argues that, had the President taken Bolton’s advice more often, U.S. foreign policy would be worse off and the country might be engaged in multiple conflicts around the world.
An excerpt:
That Trump patently refused to consider all-out war a viable option when war wasn’t necessary, whereas Bolton clearly did, is an indictment of the foreign policy tradition the former national security adviser embodies…Again, it’s not to say Trump is a good foreign policy president — he’s far from that. But the book shows there are worse options out there. ‘You don’t have to say Trump has done well to say America would be in a worse place if he listened to Bolton,’ Boston University’s Shifrinson said.
The full article can be read here.
Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson is an Assistant Professor at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, where his teaching and research interests focus on the intersection of international security and diplomatic history, particularly the rise and fall of great powers and the origins of grand strategy. He is author of Rising Titans, Falling Giants: How Great Powers Exploit Power Shifts (Cornell University Press, 2018) and his work has appeared with International Security, the Journal of Strategic Studies, Foreign Affairs, and other venues. Read more about him here.