The authors explore international reactions to U.S. conduct in world affairs.

The pattern of multilateral engagement and unilateral retrenchment in American foreign policy from the Cold War through the Clinton, Bush, and Obama years presents a puzzle. What accounts for the unilateralist turn? Is it a passing aberration attributable to the neoconservative ideology of the Bush administration? What then of the disengagement evident earlier during Clinton’s presidency, or its continuation under Obama? Was the U.S. investment in multilateral institutions following World War II an anomaly? Or is the more recent retreat from international institutions the irregularity? Skidmore traces U.S. unilateralism to the structural effects of the end of the Cold War, both domestically and abroad, to argue that the United States was more hegemonic than multilateralist—a rule-maker, not a rule-taker. An "institutional bargain" existed under the Cold War threat from the Soviets, but absent those imperatives the United States has been less willing to provide collective goods through strong international institutions and other states are less willing to defer to U.S. exemptions. On the home front, the post-Cold War political environment has made it more difficult for presidents to resist the appeals of powerful interests who are threatened by multilateral commitments. This book demonstrates that American unilateralism has deeper roots and more resilience than many expect. The unilateral temptation can only be overcome through new political bargains domestically and internationally that permit multilateral engagement, even the absence of great power rivalry.

This enlightening new book examines the roots of America's new unilateralism in terms of Machiavelli's theory of state politics.

Puzzled by the disjunction between global trends and US foreign policy since the end of the Cold War, mostly American scholars of political science, law, and economics explore the causes and consequences of US ambivalence to multilateral cooperation. They consider such dimensions as the growing influence of domestic factors, US grand strategy, the chemical weapons convention, and the International Criminal Court. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

During the six months prior to the World Trade Center attack, the United States walked away from a treaty to control the world traffic in small arms, the Kyoto accords, a treaty to combat bioterrorism, and many other international agreements. After 9/11 there was a flurry of coalition building, but Europe and Asia quickly came to see the conflict in Afghanistan as an American war with Tony Blair leading cheers from the sidelines. Recent American calls to action in Iraq have only reinforced international perception that the U.S. plans to remain a solitary actor on the world stage. Despite our stated good intentions -- the causes of justice and democracy -- we have become the world's largest rogue nation. The Bush administration did not invent the American tradition of unilateralism, but, Clyde Prestowitz argues, they have taken it to unprecedented heights. Rogue Nation explores the historical roots of the unilateral impulse and shows how it helps shape American foreign policy in every important area: trade and economic policy, arms control, energy, environment, drug trafficking, agriculture. Even now, when the need for multilateral action -- and the danger of going it alone -- has never been greater, we continue to act contrary to international law, custom, and our own best interests.

This volume explores the reasons why American leaders from the 1700s onwards frequently adopt policies of unilateralism. Thomas M. Kane presents fresh explanations for America’s invasion of Iraq and defiance of international agreements, which go much deeper than conventional critiques of particular presidents to examine the real significance of the September 11 attacks. As the only and unprecedented sole superpower, the US faces a range of new and complex problems. Kane draws on the thinking of Machiavelli to illuminate and assess the key challenges for both the US and the global community. This unique book: connects contemporary US policy to patterns that reach back to America’s founding explores political dynamics affecting all republics contributes to theoretical debates about the benevolence, or otherwise, of American democracy highlights the key issues that Americans and non-Americans alike must address now and in the future. Theoretical Roots of US Foreign Policy will be of great interest to all students of US foreign policy, strategy and history and of international relations, politics and strategic studies in general.

Has there been a new surge of American unilateralism? Why is the world fearful of a United States that goes it alone? What are the consequences, for both the United States and the world, of a unilateral America? This book seeks to answer these questions. Past discussions and debates among US contributors were sufficiently passionate as to suggest that a parallel investigation, this time by international scholars, about US approaches to multilateralism and unilateralism would prove illuminating.