An eye-opening look at North Korea, a brutal Stalinist country that has become one of the most volatile hot spots in the world.

"This is a first-rate study that brings scholarly analysis to bear on a very important problem in U.S. foreign policy. Litwak's incisive critique of the use of the 'rogue' label for political 'mobilization' purposes is right on the mark." -- Alexander George, Stanford University "Litwak's examination of U.S. policy toward 'rogue states' raises the right questions regarding a truly complex and yet very timely subject. It skillfully avoids some of the simplifications that have dominated the public discourse on this vital subject." -- Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Adviser President Clinton and other U.S. officials have warned that "rogue states" pose a major threat to international peace in the post-Cold War era. But what exactly is a rogue state? Does the concept foster a sound approach to foreign policy, or is it, in the end, no more than a counterproductive political epithet? Robert Litwak traces the origins and development of rogue state policy and then assesses its efficacy through detailed case studies of Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. He shows that the policy is politically selective, inhibits the ability of U.S. policymakers to adapt to changed conditions, and has been rejected by the United States' major allies. Litwak concludes that by lumping and demonizing a disparate group of countries, the rogue state approach obscures understanding and distorts policymaking. In place of a generic and constricting strategy, he argues for the development of "differentiated" strategies of containment, tailored to the particular circumstances within individual states.

Since the late 1980s, the rogue state concept has emerged as a central motive underlying US security policy and has been under intense debate by policy-makers and academics. This well-written dissertation breaks new ground in this discussion by approaching the rogue state concept from a moderate constructivist perspective. In addition to analyzing how US decision-makers have come to see a group of states as aggressive, risk-prone, or even irrational outsiders to the contemporary international system, Wolves in the Woods also devotes considerable attention to the threat perceptions of states that have been stigmatized with the rogue state label. Dissertation.

After the Nixon and Ford administrations, liberal Democrats hoped Jimmy Carter's election in 1976 would restore the New Deal agenda in the White House. Instead, during four tumultuous years in office, Carter endorsed many of the fiscal and economic policies later espoused by his Republican successor, Ronald Reagan. But Carter also backed most New Deal social programs and, however reluctantly, pursued a traditional containment foreign policy. In this book more than a dozen eminent scholars provide a balanced overview of key elements of Carter's presidency, examining the significance of his administration within the context of evolving American policy choices after World War II. They seek not only to understand the troubled Carter presidency but also to identify the changes that precipitated and accompanied the demise of the New Deal order. By the time Carter took office many Americans had become disenchanted with big government and welfare spending, and his presidency is viewed in these pages as a transitional administration. As this volume demonstrates, Carter's dilemma emerged from his effort to steer a course between traditional expectations of federal government and new political and economic realities. While most of the contributors agree that his administration may be justly criticized for failing to find that course, they generally conclude that Carter was more successful than his critics acknowledge. These thirteen original essays cover such topics as the economy, trade and industrial policies, welfare reform, energy, environment, civil rights, feminism, and foreign policy. They offer thoughtful assessments of Carter's performance, focusing on policy both as cause and effect of the post-industrial transformation of American society that shadowed his administration. A final essay shows how Carter's public spirited post-presidential career has made him one of America's greatest ex-presidents. Grounded on research conducted at the Carter Library, The Carter Presidency is an incisive reassessment of an isolated Democratic administration from the vantage point of twenty years. It is a milestone in the historical appraisal of that administration, inviting us to take a new look at Jimmy Carter and see what his presidency represented for a dramatically changing America.