Summary
Contents
Subject index
In his eagerly-awaited second edition, Ray revisits his deceptively simple premise that the highest priority of leaders is to stay in power. Looking at how political ambition and domestic pressures impact foreign policymaking is the key to understanding how and why foreign policy decisions are made. The text begins by using this analytic approach to look at the history of foreign policymaking and then examines how various parties inside and outside government influence decision making. In a unique third section, the book takes a regional approach, not only covering trends other books tend to miss, but giving students the opportunity to think comprehensively about how issues intersect around the globe—from human security and democratization, to globalization and pollution. Guided by input from adopters and reviewers, Ray has thoroughly re-organized the book and streamlined some coverage to better consolidate the historical, institutional, regional, and topical chapters and focus the thematic lens of the book. Ray has also brought the book fully up-to-date, addressing the latest events in American foreign policy, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the killing of Bin Laden, the WikiLeaks scandal and its aftermath, the impact of social media on foreign policy and world affairs, nuclear proliferation, developments in U.S.-Russian relations, climate change, and more.
The Future: Threats and Possibilities
THERE IS AN OLD SAYING THAT HAS ACHIEVED THE STATUS OF CLICHE by now: “It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.” (This is one of a long list of aphorisms attributed to Yogi Berra that he probably never said.) The concluding chapter that comprises Part IV deals with predictions that the United States is in a decline that will soon see it demoted from its preeminent position in the global political and economic system. Current predictions of that sort have many predecessors. The Great Depression of the 1930s was certainly a major threat to the United States. In the 1940s, the Axis Powers were a genuine menace. The United States was called ...
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