This book examines the impact of the National Security Act of 1947, the most important foreign policy legislation that many Americans (including policymakers and academics) have never heard of. Since September 11, 2001, the White House—under both Bush and Obama—has pushed the envelope of taking the United States to war (without declarations), interrogating prisoners of war, spying on potential threats, and acting unilaterally. Why have these trends occurred? How has the apex of foreign power shifted, causing a sea change that has fueled a continual turf war between Capitol Hill and the White House? And perhaps most critically, what is America's role in the world now, and what should it be? The Rise of the American Security State: The National Security Act of 1947 and the Militarization of U.S. Foreign Policy argues that the National Security Act of 1947 and the early Cold War created a bipartisan consensus among U.S. policymakers that spanned several administrations. The result of this consensus and the National Security Act was the creation of permanent institutions: the permanent Defense Department with a secretary of defense; the intelligence community, which has grown to 17 agencies; and significantly, the National Security Council inside the presidency. Collectively, these three developments have led to the militarization of U.S. foreign policy. Readers will grasp how concepts and strategies that were in their infancy during the Cold War era have persisted and continued to affect today's U.S. foreign policy.

In addition to the traditional theories used in studying world politics, The Logic of World Politics in the New World Dis-Order provides students with a new conceptual tool to help them make sense of the complex international system that has evolved since the Cold War. The book introduces readers to both realpolitik and neo-liberalism. However, rather than focusing on only one as the proper framework for analyzing international events, the text presents readers with a comparative ethos, and stresses the value of choosing the most appropriate framework for analysis in a particular situation. The text addresses this comparative ethos and Cold War thematics, topics in world history traditionally associated with realpolitik, U.S. foreign policy as a subset of world politics, topics traditionally associated with neo-liberalism, and failures of the current nation-state system. Students learn about globalization, international law and organizations, transnational actors, integration theory, and international security. The Logic of World Politics in the New World Dis-Order is appropriate for both upper- and lower-division courses in world politics and international relations.