Good Article Review About Was There A Clinton Doctrine?

The article by john Dumbrell seemed to explain Clintons ruling methods while he was in office as the president of the United States of America. In Dumbrell’s opinion Clinton’s policy on foreign matters was short of a unifying doctrine. The writers aim is to explain the Clinton doctrine as suggested by most political analysts and scholars, as well as address the issue from different points of view both positive and negative in orders to come up with a comprehensive answer to whether there actually was a Clinton doctrine. Dumbrell aims to track Clinton’s progress when he was in office, to try and explain his method of leadership more so by analysing how Clinton dealt with the issue of foreign policy, whether it was the proper way or if it can be defined as his own way.
In the article Dumbrell explains that some authors believe Clinton did not have a doctrine and that he rather moved from on problem to another hoping that it worked this approach usually led to the use of strategic manipulation to make his decisions effective and sometimes it worked and other times it failed, it can be concluded as a game of calculated luck. Dumbrell continues to support this idea by stating that the decisions Clinton made were highly unreliable as it was seen in the post-cold war strategies to promote the notion of democratic enlargement (Dumbrell, 2002).
In his argument Dumbrell continues to analyse Clinton’s leadership style by investigating how he handled government affairs. His conclusion is that Clinton lacked leadership qualities in his early term he continues to address that Clinton may have been indecisive and incoherent almost taking too long to make a decision. In an instant Clinton started getting involved with foreign policy and many people questioned why he rushed so fast into it. These were not qualities of a good leader and therefore this cannot be called a doctrine rather a lack of proper qualification for the job. Dumbrell explains in the first few years Clinton really had no direction with the foreign policy as it was seen in the crisis in a country such as Somalia. The policy was indeed a work in progress that incorporated aspects of minimalism humanitarianism and internationalism (Dumbrell, 2002). Despite all the negative aspects surrounding Clintons strategy it was successful as his approach was more realistic that idealistic.
Dumbrell does have enough evidence to claim that Clintons approach may have been unorthodox and not a doctrine at all but he continues to conclude that his method was successful after all and it is therefore a doctrine. I think that his approach to analyse both the positive and negative aspects of Clinton’s form of leadership and decision making is convincing enough to even the most sceptical. As he considers all approaches without bias and makes his conclusion on believable and recorded evidence. Dumbrell has achieved the purpose of the article as he has been able to answer the question on Clinton doctrine. Through careful and thorough analysis he has led the readers to understand Clinton’s doctrine proving it as an actual method of leadership and decision making unique enough to be his own.

References

Dumbrell, J. (2002). Was there a Clinton doctrine? President Clinton's foreign policy
reconsidered. Diplomacy and Statecraft, 13(2), 43-56.