TY - BOOK ID - 3516414 TI - Watchdogs on the hill : the decline of congressional oversight of U.S. foreign relations PY - 2015 SN - 9780691151625 9780691151618 069115161X 0691151628 1400866464 1336009748 PB - Princeton: Princeton university press, DB - UniCat KW - Coexistence KW - Coƫxistence pacifique KW - Foreign affairs KW - Foreign policy KW - Interdependence of nations KW - International relations KW - Internationale betrekkingen KW - Ordre mondial KW - Peaceful coexistence KW - Relations internationales KW - Vreedzame coƫxistentie KW - Wereldorde KW - World order KW - Legislative oversight KW - United States KW - Foreign relations KW - Politics and government KW - Legislative oversight - United States KW - United States - Foreign relations KW - United States - Politics and government KW - International relations. KW - Global governance KW - International affairs KW - National security KW - Sovereignty KW - World politics KW - Congressional oversight KW - Oversight, Congressional KW - Foreign relations. KW - Politics and government. KW - Abu Ghraib Prison. KW - Constitution. KW - Defense Department. KW - Department of Defense. KW - Iraq War. KW - Panama Canal. KW - Senate Armed Services Committee. KW - Senate Foreign Relations Committee. KW - Senate committee. KW - Senate watchdogs. KW - Senate. KW - State Department. KW - Truman Doctrine. KW - U.S. Congress. KW - U.S. Constitution. KW - U.S. foreign policy. KW - U.S. foreign relations. KW - Vietnam War. KW - congressional war powers. KW - democratic accountability. KW - divided government. KW - executive branch. KW - fire alarms. KW - foreign affairs. KW - foreign policy. KW - foreign relations. KW - institutional changes. KW - international affairs. KW - military casualties. KW - national security oversight. KW - national security. KW - police patrols. KW - presidency. KW - public hearings. KW - public opinion. KW - public understanding. KW - reform proposals. KW - rule of law. KW - scandals. KW - secret hearings. KW - war powers. KW - wars. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:3516414 AB - "An essential responsibility of the U.S. Congress is holding the president accountable for the conduct of foreign policy. In this in-depth look at formal oversight hearings by the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, Linda Fowler evaluates how the legislature's most visible and important watchdogs performed from the mid-twentieth century to the present. She finds a noticeable reduction in public and secret hearings since the mid-1990s and establishes that American foreign policy frequently violated basic conditions for democratic accountability. Committee scrutiny of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, she notes, fell below levels of oversight in prior major conflicts.Fowler attributes the drop in watchdog activity to growing disinterest among senators in committee work, biases among members who join the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, and motives that shield presidents, particularly Republicans, from public inquiry. Her detailed case studies of the Truman Doctrine, Vietnam War, Panama Canal Treaty, humanitarian mission in Somalia, and Iraq War illustrate the importance of oversight in generating the information citizens need to judge the president's national security policies. She argues for a reassessment of congressional war powers and proposes reforms to encourage Senate watchdogs to improve public deliberation about decisions of war and peace.Watchdogs on the Hill investigates America's national security oversight and its critical place in the review of congressional and presidential powers in foreign policy"-- ER -