The new edition of this leading reader for courses in American foreign policy offers students an up-to-date, highly accessible introduction to the broad array of domestic factors influencing U.S. policymakers. Editor James M. McCormick has carefully selected two dozen current insightful and sometimes controversial essays by a distinguished group of leading experts-- scholars, journalists and public officials--including 11 new and 7 updated contributions. In his introduction, McCormick evaluates the challenges facing U.S. foreign policy makers in recent years and assesses the Obama Administration's successes and failures in its efforts to pursue a new direction in American foreign policy. The volume is then divided into three major parts with an opening essay by the editor to place each part in context and then a selection of essays that analyzes the topic in that part in more detail. Part I, "The Societal Environment," contains a series of articles on the position of interest groups, the impact of military experience, the effect of public opinion, and the role of elections and political parties on foreign policy. Part II, "The Institutional Setting," examines how various political institutions, such as Congress, the presidency, and various bureaucracies (e.g., the National Security Council, the intelligence community) shape American foreign policy. Part III, "Decision makers and Their Policymaking Positions," provides various case analyses over several administrations to illustrate how individuals and bureaucracies affect the foreign policy decision making at the highest levels of government.

At the end of the 20th Century, the focus of global attention and concern is on the future relationship between the world's most influential nation and its most populous one. The series of high-level meetings and the exchange of unusually long summit visits that occupied the center of the world stage in the late 1990s reveal that both sides recognize the other's global importance. In the words of President Bill Clinton, "the role China chooses to play will powerfully shape the next century." The years 1997 and 1998 will be remembered by many for the critically acclaimed summit visits of Jiang Zemin to the United States and Bill Clinton to China. This book moves beyond the Clinton-Jiang summits of 1997-1998 to explore long-term prospects in light of recent developments. Nineteen scholars from diverse disciplines, including eight from China mainland institutions, address the outlook for security relations in the Asia-Pacific Region; prospects for strategic partnership; issues concerning Taiwan, Tibet, and trade; the potential for information, technology, and educational exchanges; future competition for natural resources; changing images of each other; and other critical dimensions of expanding non-state relationships. The interaction of China and the United States promises to constitute the world's most important bilateral relationship well into the 21st Century. To be constructive and enduring, relationships must be based on mutual understanding and respect. This volume provides an opportunity to advance both foundations among students, scholars, policy makers, and the attentive public in the East and the West.

This in-depth analysis, based on the implicit connection between the basic principles of international law and the effective practice of international relations by a constitutional democracy with a commitment to the rule of law, takes into account the diversity of viewpoints held by the different states and peoples of the world community to provide a global perspective. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.

Historically, Argentina has been one of the strongest, most independent countries of Latin America. It seems odd then, that Argentina should develop a foreign policy during the post-Cold War period characterized by a strong allegiance to the United States. However, the end of the bilateral world left the U.S. foreign policy much less focused at the same time that Argentine foreign policy became much more focused. For Argentina, domestic changes-especially economic and political instability-encouraged the government to redefine U.S.-Argentine relations from prior patterns of conflict and distrust, in order to improve the country's international image and attract foreign support. Covering two decades of history, this book seeks to explain for the first time, the reasons for the emergence of a strong friendship between the United States and Argentina. Beginning with the history of U.S.-Argentine relations up until the end of the Cold War, the text then considers changes in: The international political system The nature of domestic politics and their influence on foreign policy-making in both countries Recent issues in U.S.-Argentine relations The United States and Argentina sets out to explore the nature of U.S.-Argentinean relations by concentrating on the issues which have shaped and stood out in the dialogue between the two countries and how this shifting relationship has been played out in international institutions. This will be the fourth in our Contemporary Inter-American Relations Series.