Like making war, diplomacy has been around a very long time, at least since the Bronze Age. It was primitive by today's standards, there were few rules, but it was a recognizable form of diplomacy. Since then, diplomacy has evolved greatly, coming to mean different things, to different persons, at different times, ranging from the elegant to the inelegant. Whatever one's definition, few could doubt that the course and consequences of the major events of modern international diplomacy have shaped and changed the global world in which we live. Joseph M. Siracusa introduces the subject of diplomacy from a historical perspective, providing examples from significant historical phases and episodes to illustrate the art of diplomacy in action. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Diplomatic history explores the management of relations between nation-states by the process of negotiations. From the diplomacy of the American Revolution, the diplomatic origins of the Great War and its aftermath, Versailles, and the personal summitry behind the night Stalin and Churchill Divided Europe, to George W. Bush and the Iraq War, and diplomacy in the age of globalization, the management of power relationships has had an immense impact on our recent history. This Very Short Introduction updates the former Diplomacy: A Very Short Introduction and illustrates international diplomacy in action, exploring the changes in method at key historical junctures, and highlighting the very different demands that circumstances make on the practice of diplomats. Drawing on the case studies above, it makes sense of the way in which skilful diplomacy, as well as hubris, rashness, and excessive caution, can have important ramifications for the fate of nations. Based on the experiences of diplomatic history, it also locates the universal role of negotiations and identifies the key elements of success. As Joseph M. Siracusa shows, diplomacy was and is an indispensable element of statecraft, and without skilful diplomacy political success may remain elusive. Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Set against the backdrop of an ever-changing international landscape, this Very Short Introduction explores both the history and politics of nuclear weapons. In this new edition, Joseph M. Siracusa includes a new concluding chapter, highlighting the significant lessons to be learnt from the history of the nuclear weapons era.
American foreign policy has long been caught between conflicting desires to influence world affairs yet at the same time to avoid becoming entangled in the burdensome conflicts and damaging rivalries of other states. Clearly, in the post-1945 context, the United States has failed in the attaining the latter. As this new, expanded edition illustrates, the term “doctrine” seemingly (re)attained a charged prominence in the early twenty-first century and, more recently, regarding the many contested debates surrounding the controversial transition to the Biden administration. Notwithstanding such marked variations in the discourse, presidential doctrines have crafted responses and directions conducive to an international order that best advances American interests: an almost hubristic composition encompassing “democratic” states (in the confidence that democracies do not go to war with one another), open free markets (on the basis that they elevate living standards, engender collaboration, and create prosperity), self-determining states (on the supposition that empires were not only adversative to freedom but more likely to reject American influence), and a secure global environment in which US goals can be pursued (ideally) unimpeded. Of course, with the election of Donald J. Trump in 2016, the doctrinal “commonalties” between Republican and Democratic administrations of previous times were significantly challenged if not completely jettisoned. In seeking to provide a much-needed reassessment of the intersections between US foreign policy, national security, and doctrine, Aiden Warren and Joseph M. Siracusa undertake a comprehensive analysis of the defining presidential doctrines from George Washington through to the epochal post-Trump, Joe Biden era.
In the history of the United States, few periods could more justly be regarded as the best and worst of times than the Kennedy-Johnson era. The arrival of John F. Kennedy in the White House in 1961 unleashed an unprecedented wave of hope and optimism in a large segment of the population; a wave that would come crashing down when he was assassinated only a few years later. His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, enjoyed less popularity, but he was one of the most experienced and skilled presidents the country had ever seen, and he promised a Great Society to rival Kennedy's New Frontier. Both presidents were dogged by foreign policy disasters: Kennedy by the Bay of Pigs fiasco, although he came out ahead on the Cuban missile crisis, and Johnson from the backlash of the Vietnam War. The 1960s witnessed unprecedented progress toward racial and sexual equality, but it also played host to race and urban riots. And while impressive advances in the sciences and arts were fueling the American imagination, the counterculture rejected it all. The A to Z of the Kennedy-Johnson Era relates these events and provides extensive political, economic, and social background on this era through a detailed chronology, an introduction, appendixes, a bibliography, and several hundred cross-referenced dictionary entries on important persons, events, institutions, policies, and issues.
This book re-examines the Nixon administration’s attitude and approach to the European integration project. The formulation of US policy towards European integration in the Nixon presidential years (1969-1974) was conditioned by the perceived relative decline of the United States, Western European emergence and competition, the feared Communist expansionism, and US national interests. Against that backdrop, the Nixon administration saw the need to re-evaluate its policy on Western Europe and the integration process on this continent. Underpinning this study is the extensive use of newly-released archival materials from the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, the Library of Congress, and the State Department. Furthermore, the work is based on the public papers in the American Presidency Project and the materials on the topic of European integration and unification in the Archive of European Integration. Finally, the study has extensively used newspaper archives as well as the declassified online documents, memoirs and diaries of former US officials. Mining these sources made it possible to shed new light on the complexity and dynamism of the Nixon administration’s policy towards European integration.
Whether possessed by a state or non-state actor, the specter of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), and more specifically, nuclear weapons and their associated material, present a significant threat to global security. Notwithstanding the fact that there are fewer nuclear weapons today than the massive stockpiles that existed during the height of the Cold War, the complexities relating to nuclear security have in many ways intensified amid globalization and porous borders. More states in volatile regions possess such weapons, UN Security Council states are busily modernizing their weapons, and non-states actors have made it clear their intention to use such weapons should they attain them. The emerging prospect of a cyber-attack, or a misunderstanding that could potentially evolve into a limited regional nuclear war, would both have dire global ramifications and are scenarios that should not be considered farfetched. Additionally, concerns pertaining to chemical and biological weapons, the associated ramifications relating to nuclear terrorism, and broader limitations of the NPT regime, all pose major challenges to global stability. In considering all of these areas, this foundational primer for the Rowman and Littlefield WMD Series seeks to inform and advance policy debate in ways that support international security, while also adding important connective tissue between analytical areas in the IR and historical domains that often remain separate. Offering a comprehensive analysis of the evolution and current status of WMDs, this volume will be of great interest to scholars, analysts, and students of security studies, international history, and international relations.
Like making war, diplomacy has been around a very long time, at least since the Bronze Age. It was primitive by today's standards, there were few rules, but it was a recognizable form of diplomacy. Since then, diplomacy has evolved greatly, coming to mean different things, to different persons, at different times, ranging from the elegant to the inelegant. Whatever one's definition, few could doubt that the course and consequences of the major events of modern international diplomacy have shaped and changed the global world in which we live. Joseph M. Siracusa introduces the subject of diplomacy from a historical perspective, providing examples from significant historical phases and episodes to illustrate the art of diplomacy in action. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Written by two preeminent authors in the field, this book provides an accessible global narrative of the nuclear arms race since 1945 that focuses on the roles of key scientists, military chiefs, and political leaders. The first book of its kind to provide a global perspective of the arms race, this two-volume work connects episodes worldwide involving nuclear weapons in a comprehensive, narrative fashion. Beginning with a discussion of the scientific research of the 1930s and 1940s and the Hiroshima decision, the authors focus on five basic themes: political dimensions, technological developments, military and diplomatic strategies, and impact. The history of the international nuclear arms race is examined within the context of four historical eras: America's nuclear monopoly, America's nuclear superiority, superpower parity, and the post-Cold War era. Information about the historical development of the independent deterrence of Britain, France, and China, as well as the piecemeal deterrence of newcomers Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea is also included, as is coverage of the efforts aimed at the international control of nuclear weapons and the diplomatic architecture that underpins the global nuclear non-proliferation regime.
The threat of nuclear weapons did not fade away with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Rather, the geopolitical disorders of the post-Cold War era and the rise of global terrorism have ensured that they remain conspicuously present on the world stage as a serious international concern. With the eight or nine nuclear powers maintaining about 27,000 nuclear weapons in their arsenals to this day, it is clear that they are here to stay for the foreseeable future. The primary mission of these nuclear forces has been and remains deterrence. Using plain language rather than policy jargon, this historically focused book shows how nuclear deterrence has worked rather than how it should. It then shows how the growing threat of nuclear proliferation threatens to create a far more complicated international situation largely because of the attendant proliferation of state nuclear deterrents. By drawing on a wide array of new sources from international archives and the latest in international scholarship, Coleman and Siracusa put some of the most important and enduring problems of nuclear deterrence over the past sixty years into global context. Nuclear deterrence in the real world often operates very differently from how it should according to the prevailing theories, and Coleman and Siracusa take a fresh look at how nuclear weapons policy has been made, finding that it often has had surprisingly little to do with what works and what does not. By studying in depth how governments here and abroad have confronted and dealt with some of the most important issues in nuclear weapons policy, for example, How many nuclear weapons are enough? and What is it that will deter? they find that the making of nuclear weapons policy is a complex, fluid bargaining process subject to the tides of politics, budgets, threat perception, ideology, technology, parochial service rivalries, flawed information, and sometimes just plain wishful thinking.
This book provides a succinct and accessible interpretation of the major event and ideas that have shaped U.S. foreign relations since the American Revolution—historical factors that now affect our current debates and commitments in the Middle East as well as Europe and Asia. American Foreign Relations since Independence explores the relationship of American policies to national interest and the limits of the nation's power, reinterpreting the nature and history of American foreign relations. The book brings together the collective knowledge of three generations of diplomatic historians to create a readily accessible introduction to the subject. The authors explicitly challenge and reject the perennial debates about isolationism versus internationalism, instead asserting that American foreign relations have been characterized by the permanent tension inherent in America's desire to engage with the world and its equally powerful determination to avoid "entanglement" in the world's troubles. This work is ideally suited as a resource for students of politics, international affairs, and history, and it will provide compelling insights for informed general readers.
American foreign policy has long been caught between conflicting desires to influence world affairs yet at the same time to avoid becoming entangled in the burdensome conflicts and damaging rivalries of other states. Clearly, in the post-1945 context, the United States has failed in the attaining the latter. As this new, expanded edition illustrates, the term “doctrine” seemingly (re)attained a charged prominence in the early twenty-first century and, more recently, regarding the many contested debates surrounding the controversial transition to the Biden administration. Notwithstanding such marked variations in the discourse, presidential doctrines have crafted responses and directions conducive to an international order that best advances American interests: an almost hubristic composition encompassing “democratic” states (in the confidence that democracies do not go to war with one another), open free markets (on the basis that they elevate living standards, engender collaboration, and create prosperity), self-determining states (on the supposition that empires were not only adversative to freedom but more likely to reject American influence), and a secure global environment in which US goals can be pursued (ideally) unimpeded. Of course, with the election of Donald J. Trump in 2016, the doctrinal “commonalties” between Republican and Democratic administrations of previous times were significantly challenged if not completely jettisoned. In seeking to provide a much-needed reassessment of the intersections between US foreign policy, national security, and doctrine, Aiden Warren and Joseph M. Siracusa undertake a comprehensive analysis of the defining presidential doctrines from George Washington through to the epochal post-Trump, Joe Biden era.
This concise diplomatic history of the Confederation era is the first new work on the topic in a generation. In its pages, three distinguished diplomatic historians offer a realist interpretation of the way in which the Founding Fathers conducted foreign affairs, refreshing our collective memory about their priorities and their values. When three of the nation's leading historians come together to fashion a fresh study of American history, the resulting work cannot help but be a monumental addition to the field. Foreign Affairs and the Founding Fathers: From Confederation to Constitution, 1776–1787 is such a work. These eminent scholars provide a thoughtful, realist interpretation of the Founders' view of America's place in the world, delivering a timely reassessment of their aspirations, thoughts, and actions during the seminal decades of the American nation. This book takes readers backstage where they can eavesdrop on the Founders to better understand their motives and intentions and see how they responded to threats and problems associated with America's place in the world. Arguing that the Founding Fathers essentially thought and acted in terms of power—ranking matters of national interest and security over ideology and moral concerns—the book sheds new light on the foreign policy opportunities and challenges of the day, as the Founders weighed and determined them. In so doing, it offers important guideposts for our own time.
In the history of the United States, few periods could more justly be regarded as the best and worst of times than the Kennedy-Johnson era. The arrival of John F. Kennedy in the White House in 1961 unleashed an unprecedented wave of hope and optimism in a large segment of the population; a wave that would come crashing down when he was assassinated only a few years later. His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, enjoyed less popularity, but he was one of the most experienced and skilled presidents the country had ever seen, and he promised a Great Society to rival Kennedy's New Frontier. Both presidents were dogged by foreign policy disasters: Kennedy by the Bay of Pigs fiasco, although he came out ahead on the Cuban missile crisis, and Johnson from the backlash of the Vietnam War. The 1960s witnessed unprecedented progress toward racial and sexual equality, but it also played host to race and urban riots. And while impressive advances in the sciences and arts were fueling the American imagination, the counterculture rejected it all. The A to Z of the Kennedy-Johnson Era relates these events and provides extensive political, economic, and social background on this era through a detailed chronology, an introduction, appendixes, a bibliography, and several hundred cross-referenced dictionary entries on important persons, events, institutions, policies, and issues.
Presidential doctrines since Washington are evaluated to show that, despite differences between administrations, these doctrines have articulated both the responses and directions conducive to an international order that best advances U.S. interests, including “democracy,” open free markets, self-determining states, and a secure global environment.
This expert analysis addresses the many interconnections between political violence and crime, including the transnational crimes of non-state actors and the international crimes of states. How crime is defined goes to the heart of the boundaries drawn between legitimate and illegitimate use of force; between violence and non-violence; between legality and criminality. Crime Wars: The Global Intersection of Crime, Political Violence, and International Law presents a well-balanced, introductory analysis of this critically important subject, addressing the many points of intersection between political legitimacy, law, political violence, and criminal activity. This thought-provoking work examines the criminalization of the developing world, opening up debate about the nature and cause of acts that transgress laws, rules, and social norms. Acknowledging the subjective nature of crime, it nevertheless urges readers to ask difficult questions about why law-abiding persons and states sanction rule infringement, law breaking, and amoral policy. Perhaps most importantly, the authors assess structures of global and regional governance, including legal regimes and major international non-governmental agencies, to offer unique, historically grounded insights into security challenges and the ways in which global crimes and wars can be addressed in the 21st century.
The recent commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s election as the thirty-fifth president of the United States serves as a reminder of a period of time that many Americans perceive as idyllic. Just as his election, despite a near-run thing, had instilled a pervasive sense of hope throughout the country, his assassination stunned the entire nation, scarring the psyche of a generation of Americans. More than half a century later, JFK continues to inspire debates about the effectiveness of the presidency, as well as his own political legacy, making the senator from Massachusetts the object of many enduring myths: that he would have been one of the country’s greatest leaders had he lived, he would have kept the US out of a full-fledged Vietnam war, and that he was a martyr of right-wing assassins. His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, who did get the US deeply involved in Vietnam while pursuing the social reforms of the Great Society at home and abroad, also casts a long shadow in the twenty-first century, as the nation continues to deal with poverty, racism, and social injustice. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of the Kennedy-Johnson Era covers its history through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, including the president, his advisors, his family, his opponents, and his critics, as well as members of Congress, military leaders, and international leaders. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about John F. Kennedy.
Organized around the office of the president, this study focuses on American behavior at home and abroad from the Great Depression to the onset of the end of the Cold War, two key points during which America sought a re-definition of its proper relationship to the world. Domestically, American society continued the process of industrialization and urbanization that had begun in the 19th century. Urban growth accompanied industrialism, and more and more Americans lived in cities. Because of industrial growth and the consequent interest in foreign markets, the United States became a major world power. American actions as a nation, whether as positive attempts to mold events abroad or as negative efforts to enjoy material abundance in relative political isolation, could not help but affect the course of world history. Under President Hoover, the federal government was still a comparatively small enterprise; challenges of the next six decades would transform it almost beyond belief, touching in one way or another almost every facet of American life. Before the New Deal, few Americans expected the government to do anything for them. By the end of the Second World War and in the aftermath of the Great Depression, however, Americans had turned to Washington for help. Even the popular Reagan presidency of the 1980s, the most conservative since Hoover, would fail to undo the basic New Deal commitment to assist struggling Americans. There would be no turning back the clock, at home or abroad.
The story of U. S. nuclear testing between 1945 and 1963 is a vivid and exciting one, but also one of profound importance. It is a story of trailblazing scientific progress, weapons of mass destruction, superpower rivalry, accidents, radiological contamination, politics, and diplomacy. The testing of weapons that defined the course and consequences of the Cold War was itself a crucial dimension to the narrative of that conflict. Further, the central question - Why conduct nuclear tests? - was fully debated among American politicians, generals, civilians, and scientists, and ultimately it was victory for those who argued in favor of national security over diplomatic and environmental costs that normalized nuclear weapons tests. A History of U. S. Nuclear Testing and Its Influence on Nuclear Thought, 1945–1963 is an examination of this question, beginning with the road to normalization and, later, de-normalization of nuclear testing, leading to the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963. As states continue to pursue nuclear weaponry, nuclear testing remains an important political issue in the twenty-first century.
An expansive reference that overviews John F. Kennedy's presidency, covering the people, places, and events that comprised the political landscape of the Kennedy era. The Kennedy family has played a leading role in the annals of American politics for over 100 years, no greater than when John F. Kennedy (JFK) became the 35th president of the United States. The celebrity surrounding the circumstances of his presidency, particularly his sudden assassination, made JFK the object of many enduring myths: that he might have been one of the country's greatest leaders had he lived, that he would have kept the United States out of Vietnam, and that he was a martyr to right-wing assassins. Encyclopedia of the Kennedys: The People and Events That Shaped America is a three-volume reference set that provides an in-depth look at JFK's presidency, including his foreign and domestic policies, political allies and enemies, and major events and speeches. This A–Z encyclopedia also contains entries on the events of the 1960s that changed our nation forever, such as JFK's assassination and the Warren Commission report, the space program, and the My Lai Massacre, as well as the individuals who defined the time, such as writers Norman Mailer and James Baldwin, folk musicians Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, and activists Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King, Jr. Appendices provide a substantial archive of primary documents and identify officeholders during JFK's presidency, while an annotated bibliography supplies sources for additional research.
This concise text presents a focused, well-rounded, and clear-eyed introduction to the concept of human security. Questioning the utility of traditional national-security frameworks in the post–Cold War era, Paul Battersby and Joseph M. Siracusa argue that we must urgently reconsider the principle of state sovereignty in a global world where threats to humanity are beyond the capacity of any one nation to address through unilateral action. The authors highlight circumstances, actors, and influences beyond the traditional focus on state security, especially the role of international organizations and nongovernmental organizations. They also emphasize the importance of human rights, arguing for the development of an effective intervention capacity to protect individuals from state action as well as other security threats arising from conflict, poverty, disease, and environmental degradation. A welcome alternative to state-centric approaches to security, this balanced book will be a valuable supplement for courses in international and national security.
Despite not having been used in anger since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the atomic bomb is still the biggest threat that faces us in the 21st century. As Bill Clinton's first secretary of defence, Les Aspin, aptly put it: 'The Cold War is over, the Soviet Union is no more. But the post-Cold War world is decidedly not post-nuclear'. For all the effort to reduce nuclear stockpiles to zero, it seems that the bomb is here to stay. This Very Short Introduction reveals why. The history and politics of the bomb are explained: from the technology of nuclear weapons, to the revolutionary implications of the H-bomb, and the politics of nuclear deterrence. The issues are set against a backdrop of the changing international landscape, from the early days of development through the Cold War. In this new edition, Joseph M. Siracusa includes a new concluding chapter, moving away from the emphasis of nuclear weapons in the 'age of terrorism', to the significant lessons to be learnt from the history of the nuclear weapons era. Siracusa shows that because 21st century nuclear proliferation has deep roots in the past, an understanding of the lessons of this nuclear history is paramount for future global policies to be successful. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Diplomatic history explores the management of relations between nation-states by the process of negotiations. From the diplomacy of the American Revolution, the diplomatic origins of the Great War and its aftermath, Versailles, and the personal summitry behind the night Stalin and Churchill Divided Europe, to George W. Bush and the Iraq War, and diplomacy in the age of globalization, the management of power relationships has had an immense impact on our recent history. This Very Short Introduction updates the former Diplomacy: A Very Short Introduction and illustrates international diplomacy in action, exploring the changes in method at key historical junctures, and highlighting the very different demands that circumstances make on the practice of diplomats. Drawing on the case studies above, it makes sense of the way in which skilful diplomacy, as well as hubris, rashness, and excessive caution, can have important ramifications for the fate of nations. Based on the experiences of diplomatic history, it also locates the universal role of negotiations and identifies the key elements of success. As Joseph M. Siracusa shows, diplomacy was and is an indispensable element of statecraft, and without skilful diplomacy political success may remain elusive. Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
An expansive reference that overviews John F. Kennedy's presidency, covering the people, places, and events that comprised the political landscape of the Kennedy era. The Kennedy family has played a leading role in the annals of American politics for over 100 years, no greater than when John F. Kennedy (JFK) became the 35th president of the United States. The celebrity surrounding the circumstances of his presidency, particularly his sudden assassination, made JFK the object of many enduring myths: that he might have been one of the country's greatest leaders had he lived, that he would have kept the United States out of Vietnam, and that he was a martyr to right-wing assassins. Encyclopedia of the Kennedys: The People and Events That Shaped America is a three-volume reference set that provides an in-depth look at JFK's presidency, including his foreign and domestic policies, political allies and enemies, and major events and speeches. This A–Z encyclopedia also contains entries on the events of the 1960s that changed our nation forever, such as JFK's assassination and the Warren Commission report, the space program, and the My Lai Massacre, as well as the individuals who defined the time, such as writers Norman Mailer and James Baldwin, folk musicians Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, and activists Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King, Jr. Appendices provide a substantial archive of primary documents and identify officeholders during JFK's presidency, while an annotated bibliography supplies sources for additional research.
This unique book examines how U.S. domestic policy regarding the death penalty has been influenced by international pressures, in particular, by foreign nations and international organizations. International pressure has mounted against America’s use of the death penalty, straining diplomatic ties. U.S. policies that endorse the execution of juveniles, the mentally handicapped, and disadvantaged foreign nationals have been recognized by allied nations and international organizations as human rights abuses and violation of international law. Further, organizations such as the United Nations and Amnesty International have issued scathing reports revealing racial bias and fundamental procedural flaws in almost every phase of the judicial process in capital cases. International pressures directed at governmental entities, in particular specific states such as Texas, can have a profound impact on governmental operational efficiency and public opinion and effectively render capital punishment cost-prohibitive from a public policy standpoint. The Death Penalty and U.S. Diplomacy analyzes the institutional response to specific forms of foreign intervention and influence such as consular intervention, international litigation, and extradition negotiation. This is documented through case studies such as how a judge in Texas v. Green turned to a comparative Delaware case that relied on the Vienna Convention to remove the death penalty as possible punishment, and how Mexico pressured the White House in two separate cases. By demonstrating that foreign actors have done much to constrain the United States to abandon its policies of executing foreigners, as well as its own citizens, the book explores the foreign dimensions of the U.S. death penalty while advancing the debate surrounding the viability of this controversial policy.
The recent commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s election as the thirty-fifth president of the United States serves as a reminder of a period of time that many Americans perceive as idyllic. Just as his election, despite a near-run thing, had instilled a pervasive sense of hope throughout the country, his assassination stunned the entire nation, scarring the psyche of a generation of Americans. More than half a century later, JFK continues to inspire debates about the effectiveness of the presidency, as well as his own political legacy, making the senator from Massachusetts the object of many enduring myths: that he would have been one of the country’s greatest leaders had he lived, he would have kept the US out of a full-fledged Vietnam war, and that he was a martyr of right-wing assassins. His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, who did get the US deeply involved in Vietnam while pursuing the social reforms of the Great Society at home and abroad, also casts a long shadow in the twenty-first century, as the nation continues to deal with poverty, racism, and social injustice. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of the Kennedy-Johnson Era covers its history through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, including the president, his advisors, his family, his opponents, and his critics, as well as members of Congress, military leaders, and international leaders. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about John F. Kennedy.
This unique book examines how U.S. domestic policy regarding the death penalty has been influenced by international pressures, in particular, by foreign nations and international organizations. International pressure has mounted against America’s use of the death penalty, straining diplomatic ties. U.S. policies that endorse the execution of juveniles, the mentally handicapped, and disadvantaged foreign nationals have been recognized by allied nations and international organizations as human rights abuses and violation of international law. Further, organizations such as the United Nations and Amnesty International have issued scathing reports revealing racial bias and fundamental procedural flaws in almost every phase of the judicial process in capital cases. International pressures directed at governmental entities, in particular specific states such as Texas, can have a profound impact on governmental operational efficiency and public opinion and effectively render capital punishment cost-prohibitive from a public policy standpoint. The Death Penalty and U.S. Diplomacy analyzes the institutional response to specific forms of foreign intervention and influence such as consular intervention, international litigation, and extradition negotiation. This is documented through case studies such as how a judge in Texas v. Green turned to a comparative Delaware case that relied on the Vienna Convention to remove the death penalty as possible punishment, and how Mexico pressured the White House in two separate cases. By demonstrating that foreign actors have done much to constrain the United States to abandon its policies of executing foreigners, as well as its own citizens, the book explores the foreign dimensions of the U.S. death penalty while advancing the debate surrounding the viability of this controversial policy.
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