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Beyond the water's edge : how partisanship corrupts U.S. foreign policy / Paul R. Pillar.

by Pillar, Paul R., 1947- author.

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New York : Columbia University Press, [2023]

Polarization (Social sciences) -- Political aspects -- United States.

Party affiliation -- United States.

Opposition (Political science) -- United States.

Divided government -- United States.

United States -- Foreign relations -- 1989-

United States -- Foreign relations -- Public opinion.

9780231213165 hardcover

0231213166 hardcover

xi, 314 pages ; 24 cm.

Introduction : parties, policies, and pathologies -- From bitter division to good feelings -- Growing into a world power -- The Acme of bipartisanship -- Sliding back into corruption -- Politics as war -- A demagogue takes over a party -- Identifying with foreign interests -- Partisanship entrenched -- Consequences and prospects.

"Intense partisanship is a familiar part of the contemporary United States, but its consequences do not stop at the country's borders. The damage now extends to U.S. relations with the rest of the world. Too often, political leaders place their own party's interest in gaining and keeping power ahead of the national interest. Paul R. Pillar examines how and why partisanship has undermined U.S. foreign policy, especially over the past three decades. Placing present-day discord in historical perspective going back to the beginning of the republic, Beyond the Water's Edge shows that although the corrupting effects of partisan divisions are not new, past leaders were often able to overcome them. Recent social and political trends and developments including the end of the Cold War, however, have contributed to a surge of corrosive partisanship. Pillar demonstrates that its costs range from the prolongation of war and crisis to the intrusion of foreign influence and the undermining of democracy. He explores the ways other governments respond to inconsistency in U.S. foreign policy, the consequences of domestic division for U.S. global leadership, and how the corruption of American democracy also weakens democracy worldwide. Pillar considers possible remedies but draws the sobering conclusion that entrenched political sectarianism makes their adoption unlikely. Offering insightful analysis of the decline of U.S. foreign relations, Beyond the Water's Edge is an important book for all readers concerned about the state of the American political system"--

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