Neighbors & strangers

the fundamentals of foreign affairs

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Last edited by MARC Bot
March 7, 2023 | History

Neighbors & strangers

the fundamentals of foreign affairs

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Drawing on decades of experience in government and in the academy, William R. Polk offers a uniquely informed view of foreign relations as they occur in the real world. Rather than focusing narrowly on diplomacy, Polk's broad study of intelligence and espionage, defense and warfare, trade and aid, and intervention and law reveals how the tools of diplomacy evolved and how they interact to form a pattern with which we must deal if we are to move safely into the twenty-first century. But Neighbors and Strangers is not merely a guide to the future; instead, Polk draws upon studies of animal and primitive social behavior and the historical record to illuminate for the general reader the underlying principles and consistencies that characterize relations with foreigners. Delving deeply into the human experience, Polk documents "fear of the foreigner" as a visceral response so deep-seated and pervasive that it transcends individual experience or even historical memory. As Polk demonstrates, the tension created by having to live as neighbors with those who were thought to be alien has played a major role in creating and shaping civilization. Building the massive walls of the ancient Near East and China, for example, not only protected the societies within them but were major economic and cultural engines of change. Men had to be recruited, trained, supervised, fed, housed, and paid; animals bought or requisitioned; kilns built; and tools produced and delivered. Walled towns may have been constructed out of fear of the stranger, but with them came urbanization, growth, and increased organizational and technical skills. As with other fundamental principles of foreign affairs, Polk shows how walls continue to be a part of our arsenal in dealing with enemies, but today they often tend to be "virtual," ranging from cultural barriers to the aborted Strategic Defense Initiative. At the same time, new ways of scaling such walls can be seen in the proliferation of Western ideas and tastes, both through the rapid communications technologies of modern computers as well as through the traditional "cultural blenders" of radio, cinema, and television. Ultimately, Polk argues, fewer and fewer of our neighbors will be strangers. Accessible and engaging, Neighbors and Strangers provides a revelatory look at how foreign affairs, despite changes in its outward forms, continues to reflect the well-springs of human nature. - Jacket flap.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
366

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Edition Availability
Cover of: Neighbors & strangers
Neighbors & strangers: the fundamentals of foreign affairs
1997, University of Chicago Press
Hardcover in English

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Book Details


Published in

Chicago

Table of Contents

Introduction
Part one : The bottom line.
Staying alive in a dangerous world
Out of the mists of the past
Our possessions
Part two : Defense.
Keeping them out
Rome, walled China, and medieval Europe
Modern walls
Part three : Armies and warfare.
The first armies
Assyria and Rome
Soldiers, mercenaries, and guerrillas
The colonial auxiliary
Weapons
Modern armies
Part four : Nongovernmental relations.
Trade
The trader
European trade and finance
The amateurs
Part five : Intelligence and espionage
Getting to know them
Spies and spymasters
Tools of the trade
Espionage and counterintelligence
Part six : Diplomacy.
Peaceful relations between states
Worldviews and strategy
The conduct of relations
The medieval school of statecraft
Diplomats and their masters
Intervention and international law
Part seven : Getting rid of the alien.
Parting company
Ethnic cleansing
Coming together

Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references (p. 321-349) and index.

Other Titles
Neighbors and strangers.

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
327
Library of Congress
D31 .P66 1997, D31.P66 1997

The Physical Object

Format
Hardcover
Pagination
366 p.
Number of pages
366
Dimensions
24 x x centimeters

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL657240M
Internet Archive
neighborsstrange00polkrich
ISBN 10
0226673294
LCCN
97002353
OCLC/WorldCat
36330859
Library Thing
577239
Goodreads
267370

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History

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March 7, 2023 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
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April 1, 2008 Created by an anonymous user Imported from Scriblio MARC record.