PROFFESSIONAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL NEW ZEALAND NAVY

Volume Four

Editor: Stephen Hoadley

Published by: The Royal New Zealand Navy, Wellington, 2024, 143pp (available only online).

The presence in the Tasman Sea in February of a three-ship naval squadron from China, which proceeded to conduct unexpected live firing exercises, brought into stark relief the importance of New Zealand having appropriate naval and air assets to provide a presence in its own direct area of strategic interest. Fortuitously, the New Zealand frigate HMNZS Te Kaha was on its way to a Middle East deployment and was able to be re-tasked to monitor the Chinese ships. Similarly, the replenishment ship HMNZS Aotearoa was on its way back from Antarctica and also able to be re-deployed.

The Royal New Zealand Air Force’s new Boeing P8 maritime patrol aircraft provided air surveillance.

Of particular interest, therefore, is the October 2024 edition of the Professional Journal of the Royal New Zealand Navy Under the able leadership of a new general editor, Hon Captain Dr Stephen Hoadley (also a corresponding editor of the New Zealand International Review and former associate professor of political studies at Auckland University), who was appointed following the death of the founding general editor, Dr Lance Beath, this edition is especially timely given the recent circumstances in the Tasman Sea, notwithstanding the four-month gap between publication of the journal and the Chinese deployment. This is because while Hoadley has brought together a range of writers, including a number of serving or former RNZN staff, and articles on maritime subjects grouped under the three broad themes of the past, present and future, presciently the section on the present includes articles on the threat which China could pose to the NZDF in the coming decade in the Pacific Islands region, and the value which New Zealand gets from its naval combat force, of which Te Kaha is half (the other is HMNZS Te Mana).

These articles, as well as the others, provide timely commentary and discussion on matters affecting New Zealand’s maritime domain. At a time when the strategic environment is so unsettled, the prime minister and other ministers are talking of wanting to increase defence expenditure and the government has just released a Defence Capability Plan, this latest edition of the Journal is worth reading. This will require stamina as, like many other publications cutting costs, having the publication only available online creates its own challenges.

ANDREW WIERZBICKI

THE PRESIDENCY AND DOMESTIC POLICY: Comparing Leadership Styles, FDR to Biden

Authors: Michael A. Genovese, Todd L. Belt and William M. Lammers

Published by: Routledge, London, 2024 (third edition), 376pp, $126.

In September 2024, the NZIIA Wellington and Auckland branches hosted Professor Todd L. Belt from George Washington University in Foggy Bottom, Washington DC, a mere few hundred metres from the White House. Belt is a co-author with Michael Genovese (with the late William Lammers honoured) of this third edition of The Presidency and Domestic Policy: Compar- ing Leadership Styles, FDR to Biden, which is updated specifically to cover the Trump (first term) and Biden presidencies.

In this book, the authors evaluate the styles and strategies presidents employ in their efforts to govern successfully by four specific dimensions: approaches to advisory processes and decisionmaking; administrative strategies; public leadership; and congressional leadership. But how does one rank the greatness of US presidents? In an incredibly polarised United States, effectively ranking presidents becomes an interesting intellectual challenge for historians and political scientists. To avoid any reflection of bias and policy preferences, the authors have based their judgments of presidents not on what they think they should have done, but against what each president stated were their objectives at the beginning of their term. If you want a biased pro-Trump or pro-Biden perspective on their leadership styles, this is not the book for you.

The authors elected to assess presidents on a skill versus political opportunity scale. The level of opportunity is measured by extrinsic factors such as public demand, pro- or antigovernment sentiments, issue ripeness and the strength of the president’s party in Congress. Genovese et al state that when presidents are categorised by opportunity level then it is easier to determine who the more skilful presidents are, though admitting that while some objective indicators are available, ultimately this form of categorisation is somewhat subjective. Obama and Trump were classified moderate opportunity presidents; Nixon, Carter, Bush senior, Clinton and Biden classified as low opportunity, and Reagan and Bush junior the more recent high opportunity presidents. This book was written in the early stages of Biden’s term, and one must wonder whether the authors’ assessment of Biden would be any different after the final two years of his term.

As someone who has only observed (and studied) US presidents from the days of George Bush senior to the present, it was refreshing to learn more about the period of US presidents in the mid-20th century, where many historians believe most of the strongest performances were.

The president chapter descriptors are apt: Barack Obama ‘A Negotiator Without a Partner’; George W. Bush ‘A Reluctant Guardian’; Clinton ‘A Perpetual Campaigner Under Siege’; Trump an ‘Outsider, Disruptor, Norm-Buster, Dissembler’ and Biden ‘Cleaning the Augean Stables’ (alluding to Hercules successfully cleaning up the immense and filthy cattle stables in Greece).

One difficulty in rating a president by opportunity is that political opportunity may vary dramatically in office, for example, with George W. Bush going from a low level of opportunity in his first term to a high opportunity president eight months later following the 9/11 attacks in New York.

So how did the rankings end up? The authors assessed Franklin Roosevelt to be the top performer in skill demonstrated for high-opportunity presidents; Truman the highest for moderate-opportunity presidents; and Biden, perhaps surprisingly, the highest for low-opportunity presidents. Obama and Trump were rated second and fifth (bottom) in skill assessments for the moderate-opportunity presidents. Biden was rated an over-achiever, and assessments of earlier presidential achievements highlight the fact that he faced an impediment not shared with any other president — a former president actively working to thwart him at every turn, with support from Republican governors and congressional representatives.

In winning the 2024 presidential election, Trump made history by becoming the first US president since Democrat Grover Cleveland in 1892 to win again after being defeated. If this book continues to a fourth edition covering Trump’s second term, it will be intriguing to find how Trump is assessed. Will assessment of him differ from this edition’s ranking as a moderate opportunity president?

What would be particularly interesting is a comparison of leadership styles of Cleveland (a Democrat) and Trump (a Republican) of their two (split) terms. There are a lot of similarities between the two in that they both detested the media throughout their careers, dismissed economist orthodoxy on tariffs and targeted ‘establishment’ politicians inside and outside their respective parties.

While this book focuses primarily on domestic policy, there is some coverage around foreign policy influences. Highlighted examples include George H.W. Bush’s success in the execution of the Gulf War, producing a surge in popularity that assisted him in delivering domestic policy. Meanwhile, Trump’s on-going focus on anti-immigration and ‘America First’ is mentioned as likely to bring foreign policy distractions that could hinder his ability to achieve his domestic goals.

This third edition is a great read for political science students and American history enthusiasts interested in how the leadership style of recent presidents compare with those of past presidents dating back to Franklin Roosevelt. It would, however, be great in a future book for the authors to specifically focus on the presidency and international policy using the opportunity, challenge and skill assessment.

ANGUS MIDDLETON