Legitimacy and Force, Volumes One and Two are the state papers of Jeane J. Kirkpatrick as the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations. The volumes feature all of the ambassador's UN and congressional testimonies, addresses, speeches and statements and a broad selection of speeches on international affairs and human rights. Together they present a lucid and comprehensive account of the position of one of America's most controversial UN representatives.

Volume One is oriented around themes of democratic societies and undemocratic systems, human rights and political obligations. Kirkpatrick examines the nature and legitimacy of democracy and the illegitimate nature of undemocratic nations. She also offers poignant commentary on the presidential election of 1980 and what the "Reagan phenomenon" has meant to the United States and the West.

Volume Two offers Kirkpatrick's formal remarks on nations and nation-building. She focuses on Grenada, Poland, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, and the Soviet Union. She provides a particularly trenchant analysis of Israel: the Camp David accords, the assault on Israel inside the United Nations, and on the Middle East in general. Essential reading for everyone interested in the policymaking arena, these volumes exemplify Kirkpatrick's articulate conceptual underpinning of present-day American foreign policy.

These volumes, far from the usual government position papers, range widely and personally over the major international issues of our times. They are amplified in essays and articles written by Dr. Kirkpatrick for special occasions not related to specific UN work. In addition, the volumes contain crucial papers that were written after her resignation from the UN ambassadorship-and hence reflect Kirkpatrick's current interests and persuasions.

Since the end of the Cold War, Kirkpatrick argues, America's relationship with the world has been especially compromised by its mutual distrust with the United Nations, and by continuing uncertainty over U.S. involvement in conflicts among rogue nations overseas. In "Making War to Keep Peace", Kirkpatrick offers a tightly observed chronicle of the result: a period in which the United States has increasingly used force around the world-to mixed and often challenging results. Tracing the course of diplomatic initiatives and armed conflict in Iraq, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo, she illuminates the shift from the first Bush Administration's ambitious vision of a New World Order to the overambitious nation-building efforts of the Clinton Administration in Somalia and Haiti.Kirkpatrick offers a strong critique of Clinton's foreign policy, arguing that his administration went beyond Bush's interest in building international consensus and turned it into a risky reliance on the United Nations. But she also questions when, how, and why the United States should resort to military solutions-especially in light of the challenging war in Iraq, about which Kirkpatrick shares her "grave reservations" here for the first time. With the powerful words that have marked her long and distinguished career, Kirkpatrick explores where we have gone wrong-and raises lingering questions about what perils tomorrow might hold.

These essays track the dramatic developments set in motion by the "perestroika revolution" of Mikhail Gorbachev, whose goal is the transformation of Soviet style communism from within. This collection does not simply recapitulate what happens but explains - step by step - which changes were important and why. They tell us when Gorbachev began to ask new questions and set new goals and what these mean for the foundations of Soviet power. The analysis reflects the author's realistic understanding of the Soviet state and ideology the legitimizes it, and also her broad personal experience with foreign leaders and foreign policy. Kirkpatrick was the first woman to serve as US representative to the UN.