Special Providence_ American Foreign Policy and How It Changed World - Walter Russell Mead

Foreword X

tionswiththeUnitedNations.Ourmostrecentpublicationslookingat
thiscriticalissueincludeEdwardLuck'sMixedMessages:AmericanPolitics
andInternationalOrganizations,LeonV.Sigal'sHangSeparately:Cooperative
SecuritybetweentheUnitedStatesandRussia,anda volumeeditedbyMor-
tonAbramowitz,Turkey'sTransformationandAmericanPolicy.Inaddition,
wehavea numberofongoingexaminationsofcurrentAmericanforeign
policy-making:a searchfora newfoundationforU.S.foreignpolicyby
MichaelMandelbaum,a numberofbooksandpapersexaminingU.S.
foreignpolicy towardAsia,andforthcoming booksby DavidCalleo,
HenryN au,andGregoryTreverton.
Ultimately,anyimportantnewworkaboutforeignaffairsmustcome
totermsnotonlywiththeendoftheColdWarbutalsowiththeaccel-
eratedpaceofchangeinthemodernera.Ifthetaskofwritinginthisarea
thusseemsmoredauntingthanithasintherecentpast,perhapsthatis
onlybecausewearemoreawareof thecertaintyofunpredictablechange.
Inthiscontextespecially,WalterMead'sapproachtopolicyquestionsis
particularlyuseful.Hisperspectivehelpstoremindusofwhoweareand
whowehavebeen.Thiswayofthinkingmaywellbeourmostreliable
guidetoansweringanotherimportantquestion:Whatshouldwe do
next?OnbehalfofTheCenturyFoundation,I congratulatehimonthe
completionofthisthoughtfulbook.

RichardC.Leone,President,TheCenturyFoundation

March200I