Foreign policy is messy--and also incredibly interesting. Every day, decisionmakers must formulate and modify the US's stance towards states like Russia, China, Germany, Iran, Syria, and Israel and tackle cross-cutting issues that touch on human rights, climate change, poverty, human insecurity, nuclear arms proliferation, and economic collapse. These are multi-dimensional problems, to say the least. The world's biggest problems are viewed differently by different states, and different groups of people within those states approach those problems from their own perspectives, as well. The authors of Contemporary American Foreign Policy: Influences, Challenges, and Opportunities know that in order to fully grasp modern foreign policy problems, we must learn to see these challenges from a variety of angles, not just through the lens of a so-called "national interest."
In each chapter, Mansbach and Taylor focus on today's most pressing contemporary challenges, exploring their origins and backgrounds. They systematically shed light on the competing forces that influence them, outline the various policy options available to decisionmakers for addressing them, and explore the potential consequences of those policies. Throughout, they also look at foreign policy at all levels: international, society, government, "role"-specific, and individual.
About the Author
Richard W. Mansbach (BA Swarthmore College, DPhil Oxford University) is a former Marshall Scholar and three-time Fulbright Scholar. He has authored, co-authored, or edited seventeen books and numerous articles and book chapters largely concerning theory in global politics and foreign policy. His scholarship has extended our understanding of global politics beyond the traditional notion of territorial states interacting in an anarchic system to encompass a wide variety of actors complexly related across a variety of issues. Increasingly, his work has moved from the dominant role of "states" in international relations theory to encompass a changing cast of actors in a globalizing world and toward the concept of "identity" and the role of psychological, as opposed to geographic, distance in determining loyalties and behavior. His scholarship focuses on the critical role of history and norms in understanding change and continuity in global politics and in the movement from pre-international to international and, ultimately, post-international politics in a globalizing world. Among his books several are routinely used in major graduate programs, notably, The Web of World Politics, In Search of Theory: Toward a New Paradigm for Global Politics, The Elusive Quest: Theory and International Politics, Polities: Authority, Identities, and Change, The Elusive Quest Continues: Theory and Global Politics, Remapping Global Politics, and Globalization: The return of borders to a borderless world?. In addition, Professor Mansbach was the co-editor of the fields flagship journal International Studies. He has also served as department chair at Rutgers University (New Brunswick) and at Iowa State University.
Kirsten Taylor, Berry CollegeKirsten Taylor (BA University of Pittsburgh, PhD McGill University) is Associate Professor and Department Chair of Government and International Studies at Berry College, a private liberal arts college in Northwest Georgia. Her scholarship focuses on the development and transformation of international institutions and norms, with particular emphases on security and environmental institutions, teaching with simulations. Her articles have appeared in International Studies Perspectives, Canadian Journal of Political Science and Comparative Strategy. Dr. Taylor also is co-author of a textbook, Introduction to Global Politics, with Richard Mansbach.
Industry Reviews
"Mansbach and Taylor's practical, solution-oriented approach is novel and valuable. Its use of levels of analysis for causal factors and the way that it conscientiously includes important components of the global environment often neglected in other texts are just some of the factors that set it apart." -- Alynna Lyon "Manbach and Taylor enliven the subject matter and make it relevant to current situations. Each chapter provides an effective overview of the historical context and contemporary importance of a significant foreign policy issue, providing needed perspective that combines strong scholarship and engaging writing." -- James Seroka "Mansbach and Taylor provide a thoroughly up-to-date, useful pedagogical tool for studying and learning about U.S. foreign policy. Contemporary American Foreign Policy is particularly strong in its assessments of the opportunities and constraints relative to various foreign policy options presented to the American Foreign Policy Establishment. Its strongest assets lie in its incorporation of an issue areas-approach to foreign affairs and in its various case studies." -- Matt Caverly "Mansbach and Taylor present a timely, comprehensive, and engaging text, involving readers in the evaluation of each policy by showing positive and negative outcomes, as well as policy alternatives and approaches for analysis. Contemporary American Foreign Policy will be attractive to both upper division and lower division undergraduates alike." -- Martha Cottam
