Introduction

In one of the first detailed evaluations of President George W. Bush’s foreign policy published in 2003, Ivo Daalder and James Lindsay coined the moniker ‘ABC – Anything But Clinton’ to describe one of its major underlying drivers in their view. ¹ This pithy descriptor has endured, and the view that Bush and his senior advisers actively sought to differentiate themselves as far as possible from their predecessor, President Bill Clinton, has assumed the status of received wisdom.