Understanding Foreign Policy

This book grew out of the author's experiences in lecturing to student and lay audiences on the subject of American foreign policy. He was re peatedly struck in such encounters by the eagerness, earnestness, and good will with which Americans address themselves to foreign policy questions, characteristics that seem to him to deserve more than the baffled frustration that confrontation with the uncertainties of national policy in a complex world typically engenders.

Accordingly, this book has been written on the basis of two prin ciples. One is to interpret broadly the area to be covered; the author has thus chosen, where it seemed appropriate, to violate academic boundary conventions and discuss regional organizations, Marxist ideology, Ameri can domestic politics, international relations theory, and any other topic that promised to be able to advance the cause of understanding. The other principle has been to structure the material so as to facilitate ready understanding. This has entailed an emphasis on continuing patterns and explanatory theory, as well as the maintenance of standards of concision that have sought economy without superficiality. The book's success in meeting the objectives set for it will doubtless be adjudged less than perfect; it is only to be expected that intentions should outpace per formance in such an enterprise.