"This Book Arrives at a Time When the United States is reassessing its role in the world after the optimism of the 1990s, the shock of 9/11, and the ongoing challenges of a global economic downturn and two lingering wars. Its well-selected contributors assess not only the key foreign policy actors and issues two years into the Obama presidency, but the enduring institutional, political, and international constraints that make it difficult for any president to carry out foreign policies that enjoy bipartisan support at home and success abroad. In so doing it provides a valuable resource for courses on the policy-making processes and substantive issues of contemporary American foreign policy. Andrew Bennett, Georgetown University."