American Foreign Policy Since World War II

✍ Scribed by Steven W. Hook, John W. Spanier

• Publisher: CQ Press
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 451
• Edition: 18
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

As distinctive as it has been, the Bush administration’s foreign policy still fits within Hook and Spanier’s coherent theme of American exceptionalism. Chances are that the Obama administration, no matter how different it may be, will also share this orientation in important ways, thereby giving your students the historical context they need to understand not just the past eight years, but the full history of American foreign policy since World War II.

This revision to their classic text is much more than a simple update. Careful editing and streamlining of key chapters keep the book relevant and accessible, while placing recent events in their proper perspective.

Key revisions include:

• Previously separate chapters on U.S. relations with the developing world and U.S. involvement in Vietnam have been combined to show the collision of East- West and North-South relations.
• Chapters on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are thoroughly updated.
• Full treatment is given to the current economic crisis. 
• A new concluding chapter makes note of the changing of the guard from Bush to the Obama administration, and looks ahead to Obama’s leadership, strategic goals, and policy initiatives.

Students will also find abundant resources in new or updated tables, figures, and maps, as well as a robust set of appendixes and end-of-chapter materials, including a chronology of world events and annotated web resources.

✦ Table of Contents

Half Title
Contents
Maps, Tables, Figures, and Boxes
Preface
CHAPTER 1 The American Approach to Foreign Policy
Learning from Experience
The Roots of American Primacy
The American Sense of Destiny
Self-Doubts, Revisionism, and Social Construction
PART I: The Cold War
CHAPTER 2 From World War to Cold War
American-Wartime illusions
The Russo-Soviet Approach to Foreign Policy
Soviet Expansion after World War II
The Strategy of Containment
Declaring Cold War: The Truman Doctrine
CHAPTER 3 Containment: From Theory to Practice
New Economic and Military Structures
Reviving the Western European Allies
Confronting Revolution in East Asia
Domestic Pressures for a Global Crusade
Nuclear Strategy and the ‘Balance of Terror’
CHAPTER 4 North-South Tensions and the Vietnam War
Developing Countries in the Crossfire
Regional Conflicts in Africa and the Middle East
U.S. Policy toward Latin America
Vietnam: The Limits of Containment
CHAPTER 5 Détente and World-Order Politics
Managing the Superpower Rivalry
Arms Control and the Linkage Strategy
Disillusionment with Détente
Carter’s Quest for World Order
Carter’s Middle East Breakthrough
Blowback and the Soviet Power Play
CHAPTER 6 The Revival of Superpower Confrontation
Reagan’s Rhetorical Offensive
Expanding U.S. Military Forces
‘Rollback’ in Developing Countries
Alliance Politics in the Late Cold War
From Confrontation to Conciliation
CHAPTER 7 The End of the Cold War
Bush’s Management of the Soviet Collapse
Endgame: The Collapse of the Core
Reasons for the Soviet Collapse
A Final Appraisal
PART II: The New World ‘Disorder’
CHAPTER 8 America’s ‘Unipolar Moment’
Great Expectations after the Cold War
Revived Debates about America’s World Role
Clinton’s Embrace of ‘Geoeconomics’
Promoting Democracy and Sustainable Development
Domestic Challenges to Clinton’s Foreign Policy
CHAPTER 9 Old Tensions in a New Order
Sources of Global Fragmentation
War and Peace in the Middle East
The Plight of ‘Failed States’
Nuclear Brinkmanship in South Asia
Lessons from the Regional Crises
CHAPTER 10 The Shifting European Landscape
Western Europe: From Community to Union
Jump-Starting Democracy in Eastern Europe
NATO’s Search for a New Mission
‘Ethnic Cleansing’ in the Balkans
U.S.-Russian Relations under Stress
CHAPTER 11 America under Fire
Strains in the Unipolar Order
The Growing Threat of ‘Sacred Terror’
Terror in the Morning Sky
Elements of Counterterrorism
A Grand Strategy of Primacy and Preemption
CHAPTER 12 Hot Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
The Afghanistan Campaign
Renewed Hostilities against Iraq
Flashbacks to Vietnam
CHAPTER 13 A World of Trouble
New Threats of Nuclear Proliferation
Renewed Bloodshed in Israel
A Russian Power Play
Economic Strains and a Global Crisis
CHAPTER 14 Conclusion: America’s Reckoning
The Balance of Power in Flux
Internal Threats to Democracy
A New President and Vision
Prospects for Renewal
Appendix A: U.S. Administrations since World War II
Appendix B: Chronology of Significant Events
Appendix C: Select Bibliography
Appendix D: Select Web Sites
Appendix E: Select Blogs on American Foreign Policy
Index
Photo Credits
About the Authors