Exploring the intersections of citizenship, nationalism, and marriage, this book employs a comparative case study approach to analyze the gendered dimensions of these concepts. It delves into how women’s roles and identities are shaped by state policies and wartime dynamics, providing a nuanced understanding of the impact of gender on social and political structures. Through its theoretical framework, it highlights the complexities of women's experiences in relation to state and conflict.
Focusing on NATO's continued crisis of identity, Joyce P. Kaufman argues that the conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo have proven to be critical to an alliance that has not been able to define its roles and missions in the post-Cold War world. While, on the one hand, NATO was enlarging by inviting former adversaries in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to join, on the other hand it has been woefully unprepared to deal with the ethnic conflicts that erupted on its borders and that could undermine the peace and stability of Europe. The author contends that the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia have potentially threatened the essence of NATO by forcing the alliance to take on the new role of peacekeeper without adequately allowing the members to examine the role the alliance wants to or should play in a largely postcommunist world. Despite ongoing discussion in NATO ministerial summits, the alliance has made little progress to date and public questions about the role and even the viability of NATO after the Cold War continue to grow. The inability to address these issues leaves NATO facing a number of pressing questions that this book tries to answer: What role can and should the alliance play in the future? And why have the ongoing conflicts in the Balkans proven to be a challenge that the alliance has been unwilling or unable to resolve?
Offering a historical perspective on U.S. foreign policy, this updated edition examines its evolution from the nation's founding to the present, incorporating insights from the Trump administration and the early Biden administration. The book serves as a compact and accessible introduction, making it suitable for readers seeking to understand the complexities and developments in American foreign relations over time.
This clear and concise text takes as its starting point the theoretical frameworks that are the foundation of current international relations. Kaufman explains the traditional theories, but also makes a place for understanding the areas that lie outside of or cannot be explained by those approaches. Although levels of analysis are the primary unifying force, the book also assesses what this approach does not explain about the contemporary international system.
