Not long after 9/11 brought the free world to our side, U.S. foreign policy is in a shambles. Here, peace negotiator Dennis Ross argues that the Bush administration's problems stem from its inability to use the tools of statecraft--diplomatic, economic, and military--to advance our interests. Statecraft is as old as politics: Plato wrote about it, Machiavelli practiced it. After the demise of Communism, some predicted that statecraft would wither away. But Ross explains that in the globalized world--with its fluid borders, terrorist networks, and violent unrest--statecraft is necessary simply to keep the peace. He outlines how statecraft helped shape a new world order after 1989. He shows how the failure of statecraft in Iraq and the Middle East has undercut the United States internationally, and makes clear that only statecraft can check the rise of China and the danger of a nuclear Iran.--From publisher description.

The Bush foreign policy and the need for statecraft -- Cases of statecraft : German unification in NATO -- Cases of statecraft : Bosnia -- Cases of statecraft : undoing Iraqi aggression in Kuwait -- Cases of statecraft : Saddam, George W. Bush, and the Iraq War -- Lessons of statecraft for today -- Statecraft in a new world -- Negotiations as an instrument of statecraft -- Negotiations : twelve rules to follow -- Mediation in a world of local conflict -- Eleven rules for mediation -- Practicing statecraft : the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- Practicing statecraft : radical Islam and the challenge of Iran -- Practicing statecraft : China's rise -- Conclusion: Statecraft restored : a neoliberal agenda for U.S. foreign policy.