Download or read book The Foreign Policy Disconnect written by Benjamin I. Page and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-09-15 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With world affairs so troubled, what kind of foreign policy should the United States pursue? Benjamin Page and Marshall Bouton look for answers in a surprising place: among the American people. Drawing on a series of national surveys conducted between 1974 and 2004, Page and Bouton reveal that—contrary to conventional wisdom—Americans generally hold durable, coherent, and sensible opinions about foreign policy. Nonetheless, their opinions often stand in opposition to those of policymakers, usually because of different interests and values, rather than superior wisdom among the elite. The Foreign Policy Disconnect argues that these gaps between leaders and the public are harmful, and that by using public opinion as a guideline policymakers could craft a more effective, sustainable, and democratic foreign policy. Page and Bouton support this argument by painting a uniquely comprehensive portrait of the military, diplomatic, and economic foreign policies Americans favor. They show, for example, that protecting American jobs is just as important to the public as security from attack, a goal the current administration seems to pursue single-mindedly. And contrary to some officials’ unilateral tendencies, the public consistently and overwhelmingly favors cooperative multilateral policy and participation in international treaties. Moreover, Americans’ foreign policy opinions are seldom divided along the usual lines: majorities of virtually all social, ideological, and partisan groups seek a policy that pursues the goals of security and justice through cooperative means. Written in a clear and engaging style, The Foreign Policy Disconnect calls, in an original voice, for a more democratic approach to creating such a policy.
Download or read book To the Secretary Leaked Embassy Cables and America s Foreign Policy Disconnect written by Mary Thompson-Jones and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2016-07-12 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A former American diplomat reveals a disconnect between Washington policymakers and those who work in US embassies. When the world awoke on November 28, 2010, and read the first of the 251,287 State Department cables made public by WikiLeaks, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini warned, “It will be the September 11th of world diplomacy.” The WikiLeaks scandal certainly stirred tempers around the world, but it was not the implosion that many leaders expected: rather, it shed a new spotlight on the work of the U.S. foreign service. In To the Secretary, Mary Thompson-Jones explores the most fascinating and overlooked of these cables to offer an unparalleled window into the day-to-day work of U.S. diplomats, demystifying the lives of those who implement America’s foreign policy across the globe. From the story of Bulgaria’s Aleksi “the Tractor” Petrov to disappearing ballot ink in Ukraine, a Honduran coup d’état, or disaster relief for a devastated Haiti, To the Secretary depicts the work of ambassadors and foreign service officers through their firsthand narratives dealing with crises, corruption, and testy world leaders. Negotiating distinctly un-American customs and corridors of power, these shrewd brokers in embassies from Argentina to Zimbabwe worked tirelessly to promote American diplomacy in a world frequently hostile to the United States. To the Secretary also reveals the disconnect that diplomats face at home, guided by conflicting approaches from multiple Washington stakeholders intent on their own agenda, often unaware of realities on the ground. In an honest assessment of America’s foreign policy challenges, Thompson-Jones describes the deepening gulf between decision makers in Washington and their diplomats in the field. From misinterpreted analyses of anti-Americanism to Washington’s unwillingness to send resources to support diplomatic activities that could make a difference, To the Secretary shows what policymakers can learn from diplomats abroad—and how this can strengthen America’s place in an unstable world.
Download or read book Insufficient Representation written by Patrick Fisher and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-07-07 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Not Enough Representation: The Disconnect between Congress and Its Citizens examines how representative the United States Congress is among different demographic groups and how representational issues affect Americans’ perception of Congress, potentially threatening its legitimacy. The opening chapter analyzes political representation from the perspective of the nature of the relationship between voters and legislators, addressing why Congress is so demographically unrepresentative. The book will then focuses on outcome—the representativeness of the legislature in terms of its members’ demographic backgrounds. Congress, simply put, is not demographically representative of the American public. There are significant gaps between Congress and the American public on the basis of race, gender, religion, wealth and generation. Since members of Congress do not adequately represent the diversity in their electorate, this suggests that Congress in turn does not make polices that advocate for the citizenry as a whole. The book first examines the nature of the relationship between citizens and legislators before analyzing demographic groups in the general population and comparing their preferences to how Congressional members of that demographic group legislate. In the process, the book ties representation to many of the hot-button issues that polarize both the American public and Congress. Congress is not descriptively representative of the U.S. population. Many groups of Americans have historically been, and continue to be, underrepresented in Congress. More than ever before, this underrepresentation is troublesome to a substantial number of Americans—and problematic for American democracy.
Download or read book Bridging the Gap written by Alexander L. George and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bridging the gap that separates the two cultures of academia and policymaking is the central purpose of this pathbreaking study. George examines six U.S. strategies toward Iraq in 1988-1991. He urges policymakers to make better use of scholarly knowledge and challenges scholars to develop the types of knowledge that can be employed effectively by policymakers.
Download or read book Open Secrets of American Foreign Policy written by Gordon Tullock and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2007 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American foreign policy is a dynamic and often controversial field, and is currently a topic of deep interest given recent developments in the Middle East, North Korea and China. In order to understand where US foreign policy is headed, it is important to first examine where it came from. This book provides an analysis of the political, economic and military history of American foreign policy, with the aim of divulging important details that most people have either never learned or forgotten OCo hence the phrase OC open secretsOCO. Covering events such as the attack on Pearl Harbor and the American Revolution, as well as American involvement in the Korean War and the collapse of Nationalist China, this fascinating book debunks a number of myths held by most people regarding US foreign policy, revealing some surprising conclusions."
Download or read book The Politics of American Foreign Policy written by Peter Hays Gries and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-16 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This “eye-opening analysis” explains how and why America’s culture wars and partisan divide have led to dysfunctional US policy abroad (The Atlantic). In this provocative book, Peter Gries challenges the view that partisan elites on Capitol Hill are out of touch with a moderate American public. Dissecting a new national survey, Gries shows how ideology powerfully divides Main Street over both domestic and foreign policy and reveals how and why, with the exception of attitudes toward Israel, liberals consistently feel warmer toward foreign countries and international organizations—and desire friendlier policies toward them—than conservatives do. The Politics of American Foreign Policy weaves together in-depth examinations of the psychological roots and foreign policy consequences of the liberal-conservative divide; the cultural, socio-racial, economic, and political dimensions of American ideology; and the moral values and foreign policy orientations that divide Democrats and Republicans. Within this context, the book explores why Americans disagree over US policy relating to Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, East Asia, and international organizations such as the UN.
Download or read book Disconnecting the Dots written by Kevin Fenton and published by Trine Day. This book was released on 2011-06-01 with total page 653 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Questioning actions taken by American intelligence agencies prior to 9/11, this investigation charges that intelligence officials repeatedly and deliberately withheld information from the FBI, thereby allowing hijackers to attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Pinpointing individuals associated with Alec Station, the CIA’s Osama bin Laden unit, as primarily responsible for many of the intelligence failures, this account analyzes the circumstances in which critical intelligence information was kept from FBI investigators in the wider context of the CIA’s operations against al-Qaeda, concluding that the information was intentionally omitted in order to allow an al-Qaeda attack to go forward against the United States. The book also looks at the findings of the four main 9/11 investigations, claiming they omitted key facts and were blind to the purposefulness of the wrongdoing they investigated. Additionally, it asserts that Alec Station’s chief was involved in key post-9/11 events and further intelligence failures, including the failure to capture Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora and the CIA's rendition and torture program.
Download or read book Sorry States written by Jennifer Lind and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2011-08-15 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Governments increasingly offer or demand apologies for past human rights abuses, and it is widely believed that such expressions of contrition are necessary to promote reconciliation between former adversaries. The post-World War II experiences of Japan and Germany suggest that international apologies have powerful healing effects when they are offered, and poisonous effects when withheld. West Germany made extensive efforts to atone for wartime crimes-formal apologies, monuments to victims of the Nazis, and candid history textbooks; Bonn successfully reconciled with its wartime enemies. By contrast, Tokyo has made few and unsatisfying apologies and approves school textbooks that whitewash wartime atrocities. Japanese leaders worship at the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors war criminals among Japan's war dead. Relations between Japan and its neighbors remain tense. Examining the cases of South Korean relations with Japan and of French relations with Germany, Jennifer Lind demonstrates that denials of past atrocities fuel distrust and inhibit international reconciliation. In Sorry States, she argues that a country's acknowledgment of past misdeeds is essential for promoting trust and reconciliation after war. However, Lind challenges the conventional wisdom by showing that many countries have been able to reconcile without much in the way of apologies or reparations. Contrition can be highly controversial and is likely to cause a domestic backlash that alarms—rather than assuages—outside observers. Apologies and other such polarizing gestures are thus unlikely to soothe relations after conflict, Lind finds, and remembrance that is less accusatory-conducted bilaterally or in multilateral settings-holds the most promise for international reconciliation.
Download or read book A World in Disarray written by Richard Haass and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-01-10 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A valuable primer on foreign policy: a primer that concerned citizens of all political persuasions—not to mention the president and his advisers—could benefit from reading." —The New York Times An examination of a world increasingly defined by disorder and a United States unable to shape the world in its image, from the president of the Council on Foreign Relations Things fall apart; the center cannot hold. The rules, policies, and institutions that have guided the world since World War II have largely run their course. Respect for sovereignty alone cannot uphold order in an age defined by global challenges from terrorism and the spread of nuclear weapons to climate change and cyberspace. Meanwhile, great power rivalry is returning. Weak states pose problems just as confounding as strong ones. The United States remains the world’s strongest country, but American foreign policy has at times made matters worse, both by what the U.S. has done and by what it has failed to do. The Middle East is in chaos, Asia is threatened by China’s rise and a reckless North Korea, and Europe, for decades the world’s most stable region, is now anything but. As Richard Haass explains, the election of Donald Trump and the unexpected vote for “Brexit” signals that many in modern democracies reject important aspects of globalization, including borders open to trade and immigrants. In A World in Disarray, Haass argues for an updated global operating system—call it world order 2.0—that reflects the reality that power is widely distributed and that borders count for less. One critical element of this adjustment will be adopting a new approach to sovereignty, one that embraces its obligations and responsibilities as well as its rights and protections. Haass also details how the U.S. should act towards China and Russia, as well as in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. He suggests, too, what the country should do to address its dysfunctional politics, mounting debt, and the lack of agreement on the nature of its relationship with the world. A World in Disarray is a wise examination, one rich in history, of the current world, along with how we got here and what needs doing. Haass shows that the world cannot have stability or prosperity without the United States, but that the United States cannot be a force for global stability and prosperity without its politicians and citizens reaching a new understanding.
Download or read book The Empty Throne written by Ivo H. Daalder and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2018-10-16 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American diplomacy is in shambles, but beneath the daily chaos is an erosion of the postwar order that is even more dangerous. America emerged from the catastrophe of World War II convinced that global engagement and leadership were essential to prevent another global conflict and further economic devastation. That choice was not inevitable, but its success proved monumental. It brought decades of great power peace, underpinned the rise in global prosperity, and defined what it meant to be an American in the eyes of the rest of the world for generations. It was an historic achievement. Now, America has abdicated this vital leadership role. The Empty Throne is an inside portrait of the greatest lurch in US foreign policy since the decision to retreat back into Fortress America after World War I. The whipsawing of US policy has upended all that America's postwar leadership created-strong security alliances, free and open markets, an unquestioned commitment to democracy and human rights. Impulsive, theatrical, ill-informed, backward-looking, bullying, and reckless are the qualities that the American president brings to the table, when he shows up at all. The world has had to absorb the spectacle of an America unmaking the world it made, and the consequences will be with us for years to come.
Download or read book Henry Kissinger and American Power written by Thomas A. Schwartz and published by Hill and Wang. This book was released on 2020-08-25 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: [Henry Kissinger and American Power] effectively separates the man from the myths." —The Christian Science Monitor | Best books of August 2020 The definitive biography of Henry Kissinger—at least for those who neither revere nor revile him Over the past six decades, Henry Kissinger has been America’s most consistently praised—and reviled—public figure. He was hailed as a “miracle worker” for his peacemaking in the Middle East, pursuit of détente with the Soviet Union, negotiation of an end to the Vietnam War, and secret plan to open the United States to China. He was assailed from the left and from the right for his indifference to human rights, complicity in the pointless sacrifice of American and Vietnamese lives, and reliance on deception and intrigue. Was he a brilliant master strategist—“the 20th century’s greatest 19th century statesman”—or a cold-blooded monster who eroded America’s moral standing for the sake of self-promotion? In this masterfully researched biography, the renowned diplomatic historian Thomas Schwartz offers an authoritative, and fair-minded, answer to this question. While other biographers have engaged in hagiography or demonology, Schwartz takes a measured view of his subject. He recognizes Kissinger’s successes and acknowledges that Kissinger thought seriously and with great insight about the foreign policy issues of his time, while also recognizing his failures, his penchant for backbiting, and his reliance on ingratiating and fawning praise of the president as a source of power. Throughout, Schwartz stresses Kissinger’s artful invention of himself as a celebrity diplomat and his domination of the medium of television news. He also notes Kissinger’s sensitivity to domestic and partisan politics, complicating—and undermining—the image of the far-seeing statesman who stands above the squabbles of popular strife. Rounded and textured, and rich with new insights into key dilemmas of American power, Henry Kissinger and American Power stands as an essential guide to a man whose legacy is as complex as the last sixty years of US history itself.
Download or read book Notes on a Foreign Country written by Suzy Hansen and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2017-08-15 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Overseas Press Club of America's Cornelius Ryan Award • Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction A New York Times Book Review Notable Book • Named a Best Book of the Year by New York Magazine and The Progressive "A deeply honest and brave portrait of of an individual sensibility reckoning with her country's violent role in the world." —Hisham Matar, The New York Times Book Review In the wake of the September 11 attacks and the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Suzy Hansen, who grew up in an insular conservative town in New Jersey, was enjoying early success as a journalist for a high-profile New York newspaper. Increasingly, though, the disconnect between the chaos of world events and the response at home took on pressing urgency for her. Seeking to understand the Muslim world that had been reduced to scaremongering headlines, she moved to Istanbul. Hansen arrived in Istanbul with romantic ideas about a mythical city perched between East and West, and with a naïve sense of the Islamic world beyond. Over the course of her many years of living in Turkey and traveling in Greece, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Iran, she learned a great deal about these countries and their cultures and histories and politics. But the greatest, most unsettling surprise would be what she learned about her own country—and herself, an American abroad in the era of American decline. It would take leaving her home to discover what she came to think of as the two Americas: the country and its people, and the experience of American power around the world. She came to understand that anti-Americanism is not a violent pathology. It is, Hansen writes, “a broken heart . . . A one-hundred-year-old relationship.” Blending memoir, journalism, and history, and deeply attuned to the voices of those she met on her travels, Notes on a Foreign Country is a moving reflection on America’s place in the world. It is a powerful journey of self-discovery and revelation—a profound reckoning with what it means to be American in a moment of grave national and global turmoil.
Download or read book Domestic Determinants of Foreign Policy in the European Union and the United States written by Daniel S. Hamilton and published by Center for Transatlantic Relations Sais. This book was released on 2018-02-06 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Foreign policy begins at home, and in Europe and the United States the domestic drivers of foreign policy are shifting in important ways. The election of Donald Trump as U.S. president, the decision of British voters to leave the European Union, and popular pressures on governments of all stripes and colors to deal with the domestic consequences of global flows of people, money and terror all highlight the need for greater understanding of such domestic currents and their respective influence on U.S. and European foreign policies. In this volume, European and American scholars take a closer look at the domestic determinants of foreign policy in the European Union and the United States, with a view to the implications for transatlantic relations. They examine domestic political currents, demographic trends, changing economic prospects, and domestic institutional and personal factors influencing foreign policy on each side of the Atlantic.
Download or read book Paying Attention to Foreign Affairs written by Thomas Knecht and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2015-09-10 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do American presidents consider public opinion when making foreign policy decisions? In a democracy, it is generally assumed that citizen preferences inform public policy. For a variety of reasons, however, foreign policy has always posed a difficult challenge for democratic governance. In Paying Attention to Foreign Affairs, Thomas Knecht offers new insights into the relationship between public opinion and U.S. foreign policy. He does so by shifting our focus away from the opinions that Americans hold and toward the issues that grab the public’s attention. Policy making under the glare of public scrutiny differs from policy making when no one is looking. As public interest in foreign policy increases, the political stakes also rise. A highly attentive public can then force presidents to choose foreign policies that are less politically risky but usually less effective. By tracking the ebb and flow of public attention to foreign policy, this book offers a method of predicting when presidents are likely to lead, follow, or simply ignore the American public.
Download or read book Who Gets what from Government written by Benjamin I. Page and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1983-01-01 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the impact of taxation, social welfare programs, government spending, and economic regulation on the incomes of ordinary American citizens
Download or read book Breaches And Bridges German Foreign Policy In Turbulent Times written by Frank-walter Steinmeier and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2017-09-15 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Breaches and Bridges — German Foreign Policy in Turbulent Times features an agenda-setting speech by the Federal President of Germany, Dr Frank-Walter Steinmeier, delivered as a GIGA Distinguished Speaker Lecture in June 2016, when he served as the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs.This speech is accompanied by two essays. The first is an introduction by the First Mayor of Hamburg, Olaf Scholz, which reflects on the role of the Hanseatic City in world affairs. The second is a brief analysis by Professor Amrita Narlikar, President of the GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies. Narlikar identifies the necessity for a more profound understanding of historical trajectories, political traditions, and bargaining cultures of international negotiating partners, and invokes new forms of leadership and cooperation in global governance.In his speech, Dr Steinmeier announces the German candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council and outlines German foreign policy with its cornerstones of peace, justice, innovation, and partnership. In a period of global transition and turmoil, the world needs creative and feasible solutions. This volume (with articles in both English and German) will be a valuable resource for students, academics, policymakers, and practitioners in the field of international relations and foreign affairs.
