How can students best understand the ideas that animate U.S. foreign policy decisions and the processes that facilitate them? How can they come to terms with the motivations that guide these decision makers? In his distinctive new text, William O. Chittick identifies three value orientations--security, economic, and community--that fundamentally shape U.S. foreign policy choices. Chittick argues that it’s not enough to look at only one of these dimensions--security, in the case of most traditional texts--or even one at a time. Instead, he makes a cogent and convincing case for the systematic study of all three and explains why privileging any one dimension over another leads to oversimplification and faulty decision making. Once students are shown how these value orientations work together in complex and interesting ways, they in turn can bring richer, more insightful analysis to the field.

Chittick applies the book’s cohesive analytical framework throughout, covering the history of U.S. foreign policy as well as such contemporary issues as humanitarian interventions, global environmental problems, and international terrorism. He carefully weighs the criteria for different policy options and explores their utility: how effective are trade sanctions? What is the best way to pursue economic development in underdeveloped nations? This comprehensive overview of the policymaking process considers the many policy inputs--the foreign and domestic political, economic, and cultural factors that shape U.S. foreign policy outputs--from the perspective of the three dimensions.

Special features worth noting:

• Part openers provide useful and comprehensive overviews of each section of the book.
• Unique tables and figures help students understand and apply the framework. Maps and photos further enhance student comprehension.
• Key terms are bolded throughout the book and listed at the end of each chapter to enable students to identify core concepts.
• Suggested reading lists at the end of chapters provide rich sources for further study.

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All chapters end with a list of key concepts and suggested readings.

1. An Inclusive Framework for Foreign Policy Analysis
The Definition and Nature of Foreign Policy
Rational Explanations of Foreign Policy: Rationalists and Political Psychologists
The Logic of the Three Basic Approaches to Foreign Policy
A New Framework for Analysis
Organization of Book

Part I: The History of American Foreign Policy

2.The Nation’s Formative Period: 1607–1865
Europe's Transition from Absolutism to Enlightenment
The Colonial Period in America: 1607–1776
The Wars of Independence: 1776–1815
Growth and Segmentation: 1815–1865
Conclusion

3. The Transition Period: 1866–1941
The European System after the Napoleonic Wars
The American System after the Civil War
Conclusion

4. The Hegemonic Period: 1942–Present
Defeating Germany and Japan, 1942–1945
Restoring Industrial Centers: 1946–1952
Securing Colonial Areas: 1953–1968
Balancing Commitments and Capabilities: 1969–1984
From an Improbable Victory to Pre-emptive War
Conclusion

Part II: Contemporary Foreign Policy

5. Community Policies: Humanitarian Intervention, and Environmental Justice
Identifying Foreign Policy Objectives
Identifying Foreign Policy Options
Choosing the Best Foreign Policy
Conclusion

6: Security Policy: International Terrorism, Nuclear Weapons, and Instability in Developing Countries
Ordering Value Preferences
Identifying the Options
Choosing the Best or Most Appropriate Foreign Policy Option
Conclusion

7. Economic Policy: Investment, Trade, Development, and Sanctions
Defining Value Preferences
Identifying All the Options
Choosing the Best Economic Policy
Conclusion

Part III: The Foreign Policy Making Process

8. The Actors Inside and Outside Government
Foreign Affairs Organizations
Samples of People in Foreign Affairs Organizations
Do NGO Leaders Make Foreign Policy?
Approaches to Studying Foreign Policy Making
Conclusion

9. Institutionalism: Congress and the Executive
Institutionalism and Its Limits
The U.S. Constitution and Crisis Foreign Policies
Divided Government and Strategic Foreign Policies
Congress and Regular Foreign Policies
Conclusion

10. Organization Behavior Model: The Foreign Affairs Bureaucracy
Organizational Behavior Model
Diplomatic Organizations
Military Organizations
Economic Organizations and Processes
Intelligence Organizations and Processes
Conclusion

11. Governmental Politics Model: The President and His Advisors
Governmental Politics Model and Its Limitations
Players
Influences on Players
Small Group Decision-Making
Conclusion

12. Majoritarianism: Political Culture and Public Opinion
Majoritarianism and Its Limits
Political Culture and Foreign Policy
Public Opinion and Foreign Policy
How Are Public Opinion Polls Conducted?
Public Opinion and Political Culture
Political Leadership and Public Opinion
Conclusion

13. Pluralism: Organized Pressure
Pluralism and Its Limitations
Foreign Policy Attitudes of Organization Leaders
Organizations Based on Community Values
Organizations Based on Security Values
Organizations Based on Prosperity Values
Pluralism and Fast-Track Authority
Conclusion

14. Elitism: Policy Planning and the Media
Elite Theory and Its Limitations
Policy-Planning Functions
The Mass Communications Media
Conclusion

15. Democracy and Foreign Policy
Democratic and Undemocratic Sources of Foreign Policy
Democratic Foreign Policy and International Outcomes
Conclusion

"In American Foreign Policy: A Framework for Analysis, Chittick succeeds in presenting an innovative, interesting, and nuanced approach to U.S. foreign policy, marking a refreshing change from the dry, dumbed-down status quo. Students too often do not get a sense of how complex and how constrained the making of actual policy is. I especially like the book’s motivational framework and Chittick’s incorporation of agent-structure discussions."

"William O. Chittick's American Foreign Policy is a solid textbook, offering the strong historical foundations, range of contemporary cases, and sensible theoretical framework students need in order to get their arms around this complex subject. Its attention to domestic political actors--including the media, public opinion, and political culture--sheds light on areas that are often ignored."

"William Chittick’s motivational framework in American Foreign Policy is compelling and accessible, and the illustrative examples he uses are engaging. Students seem to enjoy and actually learn from this type of presentation! Finally, I particularly like the coverage of the history of American foreign policy—this material is typically not included in foreign policy texts, and I believe it is critical that today’s students have this historical grounding."

“William Chittick’s American Foreign Policy: A Framework for Analysis provides us with a novel framework for understanding U.S. foreign policies as decisions to act proactively or reactively, on a multilateral or unilateral basis , with emphasis of coercive or non coercive instruments of influence. The chapters dealing with the foreign affairs bureaucracy and the president and his interactions with his advisors provide particularly useful summaries in terms of the psychological proclivities of various actors (chapters l0 and 11). Equally significant are those chapters showing the constraints that the broader culture places on their choices (chapters 9, 12-14.). Chittick in short, challenges the reader with a framework for clarifying the very complex process that under girds the foreign policy process.”

William O. Chittick is an emeritus professor of political science at the University of Georgia. He has written books and articles about American foreign policy, public opinion, and the press. He taught courses in American foreign policy, international relations, and global policy analysis. He is former President of the International Studies Association/South and former Head of the Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Section (now Foreign Policy Analysis Section) of the American Political Science Association.

A pre-emptive strike on too much class prep time...
To help you prepare for class and assess your students' understanding of key concepts, an instructor’s resources CD-ROM, with materials created by the author, includes these invaluable ancillaries:

• A testbank with approximately 100 short answer and essay questions, available as MS Word or WordPerfect files.
• PowerPoint lecture slides with approximately 20 slides per chapter.
• Tables and figures from the text in PowerPoint and PDF formats for use in lectures.
• A set of class-tested, exercises--from role-playing scenarios to insightful discussion questions—to help students apply the book’s rich framework.