Foreign Policy Advocacy and Entrepreneurship
How a New Generation in Congress Is Shaping U.S. Engagement with the World
Junior foreign policy entrepreneurs in Congress are reshaping the United States’ foreign policy landscape
Description
Foreign Policy Advocacy and Entrepreneurship shows how new and dynamic leaders in Congress are becoming highly influential in policymaking. Capturing the spirit of change in Washington, DC, it explores original case studies of eight US policymakers who challenged authority during the Obama administration—from war veterans and fundamentalist Christian activists to former spies and minority legislators. Newly elected representatives in both parties dove into issues that sometimes seemed well beyond the interests of their constituents and that defied their own party leadership. Setting the course for a new generation of lawmakers, junior entrepreneurs studied here employed a combination of formal legislative strategies for successful influence and informal networking, policy narratives, and communication strategies. While some congressional initiatives have succeeded in changing US foreign policy and others have failed, committed entrepreneurs appear to be gaining greater influence over US foreign policy in the polarized atmosphere of Washington, DC.
Cases of entrepreneurship by junior members of Congress represent a puzzle for traditional foreign policy studies that focus on seniority, party discipline, and rigid institutional systems on Capitol Hill. By melding entrepreneurship and policy advocacy literature, this book advances a new typology of foreign policy entrepreneurship, recognizing the impact of multidimensional strategies of influence. The arrival of new members of the 116th Congress, the most diverse in history, provides an exciting laboratory to further test these propositions.
Jeffrey S. Lantis is Professor of Political Science at the College of Wooster.
Reviews
"This book represents an important addition to our knowledge about the foreign policy role of Congress."
- Jordan Tama
—Political Science Quarterly
"Foreign Policy Advocacy and Entrepreneurship has redirected our thinking about the manner in which Congress operates and influences foreign policy away from hierarchical structures and seniority to the personal experiences and views that junior members bring with them, along with the inside/outside strategies they employ to advance their foreign policy positions."
- Glenn Hastedt
—Congress & the Presidency