World Politics and the American Quest for Super-Villains, Demons, and Bad Guys to Destroy

Far too many westernersand particularly Americansare culturally ignorant and don't truly understand today's world. They know very little about Muslim-Arab countries, and they demonize and attack those they don't understand. World Politics and the American Quest for Super-Villains, Demons, and Bad Guys to Destroy introduces students to basic concepts in world politics. It addresses common misperceptions and their impact on foreign policy, and it explores forms of bureaucratic dysfunction in key American agencies.

Readers will learn about the building blocks of world politics, transitions from authoritarianism to democracy, the Middle East conflict and its widespread impact, and the long-lasting consequences of war and occupation in Iraq.

The text gives readers the conceptual tools they need to decide for themselves what they believe about vital and perplexing issues. Students can then use these concepts to examine and analyze U.S. foreign and military policy, and a variety of global security crises.

Highly readable and accessible, World Politics and the American Quest for Super-Villains, Demons, and Bad Guys to Destroy is ideal for introductory courses in global politics.

Christopher I. Xenakis is an adjunct lecturer in political science at SUNY-Cortland, New York, and a scholar of U.S.-Soviet relations and American foreign and military policy. A retired U.S. Navy Chaplain, he served as Special Assistant to the Chief of Naval Personnel for Family Programs and was the Navy's liaison to the American Red Cross. From his desk in the Pentagon's Navy Annex, he observed the unraveling of the Cold War and Washington's response to the implosion of the Soviet Union firsthand. Xenakis holds a Ph.D. in World Politics from the Catholic University of America.