By March 2022, a remarkable 144 countries had signed onto the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—China's massive investment and infrastructure development program—with significant implications for US foreign policy. Edward Ashbee explores how the US has reacted to this global expansion of Chinese power, tracing the arc of policy responses to the BRI from its inception in 2013 through    More >

Choice Outstanding Academic Book! The main focus of US national security policy has shifted dramatically since the years of the Obama administration, moving away from nation building and counterinsurgency efforts and toward preparing for traditional state-on-state conflict with powerful peers. The sixth edition of US National Security reflects that change. It also addresses such current issues    More >

Herman Cohen draws on both the documentary record and his years of on-the-ground experience to provide a uniquely comprehensive survey and interpretation of nearly eight decades of US policy toward Africa. Tracing how this policy has evolved across successive administrations since 1942 (beginning with President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third term in office), Cohen illuminates the debates    More >

Whether your approach to teaching US foreign policy is thematic, historical, case-study oriented, regional, or perhaps a blend of several approaches, Making US Foreign Policy: The Essentials is likely to be a text that you will want to assign as required reading. The text focuses on the most fundamental questions: Who makes foreign policy decisions? How? What accounts for particular decisions?    More >

Whether democracy promotion should play a role in US foreign policy continues to be a subject of considerable debate, perhaps nowhere more than with regard to the Arab World. But looking beyond the "whether," what explains why, where, and how the United States promotes democracy? What caused the shift from the Obama administration's support of the Arab Spring protests in 2011 to its    More >

In the aftermath of the catastrophic attacks of September 11, 2001, President Bill Clinton's time in office was portrayed as one in which vital opportunities to confront growing threats to US security were missed. Firmly challenging this characterization, James Boys explores the long-misunderstood approach adopted by the Clinton administration as it sought to define an effective response to    More >

After Bolivia had received more than $4.7 billion from the US government to support 70 years of development efforts, why would Evo Morales abruptly expel USAID from the country in May 2013? The answer, alleges Lawrence Heilman, is rooted in a complex slice of history beginning with US assistance to Bolivia during World War II. Heilman explores that history from the perspectives of both the US    More >

What is going on domestically when democracies choose war? Why do some wars of choice generate political opposition while others don't? Is there an internal mechanism that constrains the behavior of democracies when it comes to war? To answer these questions, Andrew Katz explores the relationship between public support for wars of choice and democratic norms in the marketplace of    More >

It is no secret that the US variously pulls away from the United Nations and embraces it as a significant venue for policy initiatives. But what explains this dramatic inconsistency? What is the logic of US multilateralism? Alynna Lyon explores the puzzling waxing and waning of US support for the UN, tracing events, actions, and decisions from the end of World War I to the present. Lyon weaves    More >

Little known outside a small community of insiders, the United Nations Association–USA has had an impact on both the UN and the US-UN relationship far greater than its size would suggest. James Wurst explores that impact as he traces the sometimes tortuous history of the UNA-USA from its earliest days to the present. Beginning with efforts in support of the creation of the United    More >

Why is the US so reluctant to join global multilateral treaties, even when those treaties are in line with its own policies? And how does it decide which treaties to ratify? Finding that the answers to these questions is less straightforward than may be apparent at first glance, Johannes Thimm explores the role of domestic politics in US unilateralism—and concludes that the real puzzle is    More >

Though advisers to host governments have become an integral part of foreign-assistance efforts in the realms of both development and peace processes, there has been scant information on how they can best achieve their goals. What skills, tools, and attributes do successful advisers need? How can they best share their expertise with their foreign counterparts in ways that build local capacities and    More >

While analysts may agree that Hollywood movies have always both mirrored and helped to shape the tenor of their times, the question remains: Just how do they do it? And how do we identify the underlying political/ideological content of a film? Movies, Myth, and the National Security State answers these questions, exploring how Hollywood movies have served to propagate, or to debate, or    More >

In recent years, the countries of Latin America have moved out from under the shadow of the United States to become active players in the international system. What changed? Why? And why did it take so long for that change to happen? To answer those questions, Joseph S. Tulchin explores the evolving role of Latin American states in world affairs from the early days of independence to the    More >

Recent US security policy toward Africa has adopted a multidimensional approach—including the use of military assets to promote economic development and good governance—that has raised questions and generated considerable debate. Can actors like the US military develop appropriate methods to address both US and African interests? What blend of civilian and military programs are most    More >

Why has the United States continued to develop ballistic missile defenses in an era of irregular warfare and asymmetric terrorist threats? How does missile defense contribute to US global strategy? Can the BMD system achieve the goals that lay behind its creation? Michael Mayer addresses these questions in his balanced approach to the contentious debate over the strategic value of missile    More >

Though recent US government attention to global women's rights and empowerment is often presented as a new phenomenon, Karen Garner argues that nearly two decades ago the Clinton administration broke barriers to challenge women's unequal status vis-à-vis men around the world and to incorporate their needs into US foreign policy and aid programs. Garner draws on a wide range of    More >

Why would Georgia attack South Ossetia in August 2008, with Russian forces conducting exercises nearby? This remains a puzzle to analysts—on a not inconsiderable list of foreign policy puzzles. Hans Mouritzen and Anders Wivel use the example of the Russo-Georgian war to illustrate and evaluate their original model for explaining foreign policy behavior. The authors apply the model to the    More >

In 2007, the Bush administration created a new military presence in Africa—AFRICOM (US Africa Command)—which has been vigorously debated ever since. Some see AFRICOM as the answer to an African security system crippled by a lack of resources, widespread politicization, and institutional weakness. Others claim that the program is nothing more than another attempt by the US to secure its    More >

Louis Picard and Terry Buss trace the history of US foreign aid from the earliest assumptions of manifest destiny to the present, placing their discussion within the context of broader foreign policy and security goals. Effectively combining policy and normative perspectives, their book serves as a provocative introduction to the subject.    More >

Now that the clear delineations of the Cold War era are behind us, what are the contours of the international system? And what does the new reality mean for the United States, the acknowledged hegemon? Provocatively applying IR theory to the world of policy analysis, Imbalance of Power showcases policy debates about the nature of both the international order and the role of the US within it.    More >

Dozens of ethnic groups work determinedly to achieve specific policy goals in Washington, but to what degree do they actually wield power? Which groups are the most influential, and why? David Paul and Rachel Anderson Paul consider the relative impact of 38 ethnic lobbies to determine whether—and if so, how—they affect the course of US foreign policy. Paul and Paul systematically    More >

In the years since the first edition of Driven by Drugs was published, there have been dramatic changes in US policy toward Colombia, as well as in domestic Colombian politics. This new edition traces developments in both arenas, bringing the story current through the administrations of George W. Bush and Álvaro Uribe.     More >

Do humanitarian NGOs function as autonomous—and even influential—nonstate actors with their own value-driven agendas? Or do they serve merely as the paid agents of national governments, providing a service-delivery function in line with those nations' foreign policy goals? Shedding light on this often-contentious issue, Abby Stoddard uses examples of US policy in the conflicts in    More >

With its emphasis on unilateralism, preemptive attack, and regime change, US foreign policy under George W. Bush continued the longstanding US quest for primacy—but with some radical departures from previous approaches.   Superpower on Crusade offers a critical exploration of the origins and implementation of the Bush Doctrine. Gurtov first traces the sources of US missionary and    More >

Reflecting the debate between state-centered and human-security approaches to security strategy, Africa-US Relations explores the interactions between the US and African countries in a wide spectrum of key arenas. The authors range from such traditional security issues as peacekeeping and terrorism to concerns with HIV/AIDS, environmental degradation, aid policies, and international trade. Their    More >

In this comprehensive, succinct—and provocative—overview of five decades of US foreign policy, Gabriel Kolko gives special emphasis to the period since 2000. Kolko argues that, as dangerous as the Cold War era was, we face far more instability and unpredictability now; the international environment is qualitatively more precarious than ever. Ranging from the Vietnam War to the war in    More >

Although the US has spent more than $25 billion on international drug-control programs over the last two decades, it has failed to reduce the supply of cocaine and heroin entering the country. It has, however, succeeded in generating widespread, often profoundly damaging, consequences, most notably in Latin America and the Caribbean. The authors of Drugs and Democracy in Latin America offer a    More >

What explains the twists and turns in US-China relations since Richard Nixon initiated a policy of engagement in the early 1970s? Addressing this question, Jean Garrison examines the politics behind US China policy across six administrations from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush. Garrison finds that a focus on the internal decisionmaking process is key to understanding both continuity and change    More >

Choice Outstanding Academic Book! From the war on terrorism to global warming, from national missile defense to unilateral sanctions, the U.S. has been taken to task for coming on too strong—or for doing too little. This important new book explores international reactions to U.S. conduct in world affairs Authors from around the world address the tensions between unilateralism and    More >

When should the United States cooperate with others in confronting global problems? Why is the U.S. often ambivalent about multilateral cooperation? What are the costs of acting alone? These are some of the timely questions addressed in this examination of the role of multilateralism in U.S. foreign policy. The authors isolate a number of factors that help to explain U.S. reluctance to commit to    More >

In what ways does national culture influence the direction of U.S. foreign policy? What are the mechanisms through which culture shapes policy outcomes? Stephen Twing’s thoughtful analysis illustrates precisely how certain cultural elements influenced the policy preferences and policymaking behaviors of three Cold War-era statesmen, John Foster Dulles, Averell Harriman, and Robert    More >

The defeat of the attempted April 1961 invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs (Playa Giron) was one of the worst foreign–policy disasters in U.S. history. Since then, explanations of the event have emphasized betrayal by one U.S. agency or another, seeking to assign blame for the "loss" of Cuba. With the benefit of new documentation, however—from U.S. government and Cuban exile    More >

This innovative text/reader illustrates a range of national and regional perspectives on international relations and U.S. foreign policy. The twenty-eight selections include speeches, essays, and book excerpts, offering opinion and analysis by leading politicians, journalists, and scholars from around the globe. Divided into two parts, the book begins with a survey of contrasting views about the    More >