Logics of American Foreign Policy: Theories of America's World Role

By Patrick Callahan

An objective presentation of ideals and theory allows a deeper understanding of debates, permits the student to form an independent judgment of U.S. foreign policy. KEY TOPICS: This book introduces American Foreign Policy through the presentation of the most important logics used in contemporary debates, emphasizes the six most important foreign policy logics competing to define U.S. foreign policy, and identifies the five traditions of American political culture. MARKET: Instructors would prefer to introduce American diplomacy through the use of contemporary logics and historical traditions.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0321088484
• ISBN13: 9780321088482
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: Pearson
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.5" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

First Rate US Foreign Policy Primer

I use this book to teach US foreign policy, and it really is one of a kind. While most other texts bore students with endless descriptions of dry institutional details they will forget as soon as the course is over, this book focuses on the ideas and policy debates which have always driven America's policies towards the rest of the world, taking in US foreign policy history along the way. My experience has been that students consistently like it, since it allows them to explain current events from a variety of political perspectives. My only (small) quibble is that the term 'hegemonism' (one of the book's six logics) is increasingly being used more narrowly than the author does as a description of the Bush administration's crusading neo-conservatism - a kind of 'Wilsonianism of the right', as someone put it - and due to the rapid pace of events the 2003 edition already needs updating somewhat. But the book itself is excellent: it is fair, even-handed and and well-written, and I stongly recommend it to other teachers ---- David Houghton, University of Central Florida