Ronald Reagan and the Politics of Freedom - Softcover

Busch, Andrew E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0742520536 ISBN 13: 9780742520530

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2001

Synopsis

In Ronald Reagan and the Politics of Freedom, Andrew E. Busch goes beyond economic and foreign policies to examine ReaganOs understanding of statesmanship. Busch analyzes Reagan's conscious attempt to strengthen the separation of powers, federalism, and traditional rhetoric, and his efforts to revive the notion of limited government in a Constitutional Republic. In this important new study, Busch concludes that Ronald ReaganOs politics of freedom_found in his discourse, policy, and coalition-building_achieved significant successes in the 1980s and beyond.

About this title

About the Author:

Andrew E. Busch is associate professor of political science at the University of Denver. He is also the co-author of The Perfect Tie: The True Story of the 2000 Election with James Ceaser.

Review:

Busch makes a powerful case, based on impeccable research, that Reagan was a statesman of high rank, with a coherent and intelligent vision of human liberty. His presidency successfully challenged the dominant liberalism of his time by returning to the Founders' constitutionalism, based on principles of rational liberty, equality of individual rights, and government by consent of the governed. (Thomas G. West)

Liberals dismiss and denigrate him and his presidency, conservatives lionize him and his record, but in such an ideologically charged atmosphere, on what basis can we evaluate the man and his record? In this well written book, Andrew Busch gives us an answer. Judging Reagan by the very standards he himself established for his presidency―did he contribute to the scope and vitality of human freedom in America?―is at once innovative and simple common sense. In applying just such standards to the Reagan legacy and the 1980s, Busch reminds us of Reagan's importance in the renewal of America's 'architecture of freedom.' (Gary Gregg, University of Louisville)

While journalistic and fanciful accounts of Ronald Reagan's presidency abound, Ronald Reagan and the Politics of Freedom is the only comprehensive study produced by an eminent political scientist. This thoughtful and thought-provoking work holds the Reagan presidency to the highest standards of statesmanship and finds it passing with honors, indeed high honors in foreign policy, the economy, constitutionalism, and national morale. Busch has caught some of Reagan's optimism, but his book is no hagiography; it is serious scholarship presented in clear prose. (Ken Masugi, Claremont Institute)

The re-writing of the Reagan years and the power of his legacy is now underway―and this book by Andrew Busch is a major contribution to that effort. (Martin Anderson, Hoover Institution, Stanford University)

For its intellingent and scrappy defense of Reagan's economic, social, and defense policies, Busch's volume wins a place on the short shelf of indispensable books about the Reagan years. (Claremont Review of Books)

Of all the books written praising or blaming Ronald Reagan, Andrew Busch's book is the best account of Ronald Reagan's understanding of his own statesmanship and the most comprehensive account of the architectonic character of that 'Statesmanship of Liberty'. (Mickey Craig, Hillsdale College)

The ordered liberty vantage point provides an interesting overview from which to see the Reagan presidency as well as its egalitarian and libertarian critics. Recommended for upper-division undergraduates and above. (CHOICE)

Andrew E. Busch is the first scholar to assess Reagan's presidency by the goal he set for himself: enhancing American freedom. (Conservative Book Club)

About this edition

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0742520536
• ISBN 13: 9780742520530
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352