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Politics & Society » Foreign Policy & International Relations

Most Recommended Books

The Utility of Force by Rupert Smith

“What Smith sees is that making war has increasingly had to encompass the disciplines usually understood in diplomacy.”

Mike Maclay, International Relation

Read more

Diplomacy by Henry Kissinger

“Kissinger said that the original American idealism was a mistake. He remains the grand old man of foreign policy.”

Jonathan Powell, Diplomats & Former Diplomat

Read more

Fiasco by Thomas E Ricks

“When you read about Iraq, you need to know that it is a country more divided than almost anywhere else in the world.”

Patrick Cockburn, Foreign Correspondent

Read more

The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria

History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

“He has an almost surgical precision in the way he weighs up one factor against another. He is one of the most original historians.”

Robert Service, Historian

Read more

Browse book recommendations:

Politics & Society

  • Aid & International Development
  • American Politics
  • British Politics
  • Conflict & War
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  • Feminism
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  • Terrorism

    The best books on Covert Action, recommended by Rory Cormac

  • Read

    1

    Covert Action: Central Intelligence Agency and the Limits of American Intervention in the Post-War World
    by Gregory Treverton

  • Read

    2

    Executive Secrets: Covert Action and the Presidency
    by William J Daugherty

  • Read

    3

    MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949
    by Keith Jeffery

  • Read

    4

    The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West
    by Christopher Andrew & Vasili Mitrokhin

  • Read

    5

    Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations
    by Ronen Bergman

The best books on Covert Action, recommended by Rory Cormac

Many of us live in democracies and believe in government transparency, but the truth is our leaders have considerable scope to engage in secret operations overseas. Rory Cormac talks us through five books on ‘covert action,’ and some of the countries that have embraced it as a policy tool.

    The best books on America’s Increasingly Challenged Position in World Affairs, recommended by Ali Wyne

  • Read

    1

    Is the American Century Over?
    by Joseph Nye

  • Read

    2

    The Chessboard and the Web: Strategies of Connection in a Networked World
    by Anne-Marie Slaughter

  • Read

    3

    The Sovereignty Wars: Reconciling America with the World
    by Stewart Patrick

  • Read

    4

    Psychology of a Superpower: Security and Dominance in U.S. Foreign Policy
    by Christopher Fettweis

  • Read

    5

    Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America
    by Deborah Fallows & James Fallows

The best books on America’s Increasingly Challenged Position in World Affairs, recommended by Ali Wyne

Reports of the death of the world’s only superpower may have been exaggerated, but America’s inward turn is threatening the world order it created after World War II. Foreign policy analyst Ali Wyne talks us through books to better understand America’s current role in the world.

    The best books on US Foreign Policy, recommended by Gideon Rose

  • Read

    1

    History of the Peloponnesian War
    by Thucydides

  • Read

    2

    American Politics: The Promise of Disharmony
    by Samuel P Huntington

  • Read

    3

    Duties Beyond Borders
    by Stanley Hoffmann

  • Read

    4

    The Post-American World
    by Fareed Zakaria

  • Read

    5

    The Frugal Superpower
    by Michael Mandelbaum

The best books on US Foreign Policy, recommended by Gideon Rose

Should America have intervened in Libya? Done more? Done less? Done it differently? The editor of Foreign Affairs, Gideon Rose, explains the tension that lies at the heart of every American foreign policy decision.

    The best books on Global Power, recommended by Joseph Nye

  • Read

    1

    The Post-American World
    by Fareed Zakaria

  • Read

    2

    History of the Peloponnesian War
    by Thucydides

  • Read

    3

    Rivals
    by Bill Emmott

  • Read

    4

    Power
    by Steven Lukes

  • Read

    5

    Cyber War
    by Richard A Clarke and Robert Knake

The best books on Global Power, recommended by Joseph Nye

The Harvard University Professor Joseph Nye talks about changing power in the 21st century – and how whose story wins matters as much as whose army wins.

    The best books on 21st Century Foreign Policy, recommended by Anne-Marie Slaughter

  • Read

    1

    Nonzero
    by Robert Wright

  • Read

    2

    Linked
    by Albert-Lázló Barabási

  • Read

    3

    The Penguin and the Leviathan
    by Yochai Benkler

  • Read

    4

    Here Comes Everybody
    by Clay Shirky

  • Read

    5

    Join the Club
    by Tina Rosenberg

The best books on 21st Century Foreign Policy, recommended by Anne-Marie Slaughter

Renowned foreign policy expert Anne Marie-Slaughter looks at the increasingly complex networks in which 21st century states find themselves.

    The best books on US Intervention, recommended by Lawrence Kaplan

  • Read

    1

    Promised Land, Crusader State
    by Walter McDougall

  • Read

    2

    Ordinary Men
    by Christopher Browning

  • Read

    3

    Strategies of Containment
    by John Gaddis

  • Read

    4

    Dispatches
    by Michael Herr

  • Read

    5

    American Pastoral
    by Philip Roth

The best books on US Intervention, recommended by Lawrence Kaplan

The foreign affairs commentator explains why US presidents have less room to manoeuvre on foreign policy than they think, and why President Obama had to set aside his “minimalist” inclinations.

    The best books on The Psychology of War, recommended by Rose McDermott

  • Read

    1

    How Statesmen Think: The Psychology of International Politics
    by Robert Jervis

  • Read

    2

    Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence
    by Dale Peterson & Richard Wrangham

  • Read

    3

    Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging
    by Sebastian Junger

  • Read

    4

    Sex and World Peace
    by Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill, Chad Emmett, Mary Caprioli & Valerie Hudson

  • Read

    5

    Thinking, Fast and Slow
    by Daniel Kahneman

The best books on The Psychology of War, recommended by Rose McDermott

Traditionally, the study of international relations has been about institutions, not individuals and the psychology that motivates them. But that is changing. Rose McDermott, professor of international relations at Brown University, introduces the work of Robert Jarvis and others pioneering the field of ‘political psychology.’

    The best books on Geoeconomics, recommended by Jennifer M Harris

  • Read

    1

    Super Sad True Love Story
    by Gary Shteyngart

  • Read

    2

    China's Superbank: Debt, Oil and Influence - How China Development Bank is Rewriting the Rules of Finance
    by Henry Sanderson & Michael Forsythe

  • Read

    3

    Economic Statecraft
    by David Allen Baldwin

  • Read

    4

    Network Power: The Social Dynamics of Globalization

  • Read

    5

    Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939
    by Adam Hochschild

The best books on Geoeconomics, recommended by Jennifer M Harris

With its passion for neoliberal ideology, the US uses its economic weight clumsily in terms of foreign policy, says former state department official and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Jennifer M. Harris. Here she picks the best books for understanding the vital area of geoeconomics.

    The best books on The World Since 1978, recommended by Gideon Rachman

  • Read

    1

    Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China
    by Ezra Vogel

  • Read

    2

    Delors: Inside the House that Jacques Built
    by Charles Grant

  • Read

    3

    America Between the Wars
    by Derek Chollet and James Goldgeier

  • Read

    4

    A Journey: My Political Life
    by Tony Blair

  • Read

    5

    The Limits of Power
    by Andrew Bacevich

The best books on The World Since 1978, recommended by Gideon Rachman

Most British prime ministers would probably have made the same decision as Tony Blair and followed George W. Bush into war in Iraq in 2003, says the FT's chief foreign affairs commentator. 

    The best books on US Militarism, recommended by Stephen Glain

  • Read

    1

    The Best and the Brightest
    by David Halberstam

  • Read

    2

    House of War
    by James Carroll

  • Read

    3

    Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
    by Tim Weiner

  • Read

    4

    American Rasputin
    by David Milne

  • Read

    5

    Perils of Dominance
    by Gareth Porter

The best books on US Militarism, recommended by Stephen Glain

American presidents may not want to send troops into battle or militarise foreign policy but, in the end, most of them do. The author and journalist explains how this happens, and why it’s not even the military that’s to blame. He picks the best books on American militarism.

    The best books on The Secret Service, recommended by Keith Jeffery

  • Read

    1

    The Riddle of the Sands
    by Erskine Childers

  • Read

    2

    Greek Memories
    by Compton Mackenzie

  • Read

    3

    From Russia With Love
    by Ian Fleming

  • Read

    4

    The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
    by John le Carré

  • Read

    5

    Secret Service
    by Christopher Andrew

The best books on The Secret Service, recommended by Keith Jeffery

The author of the only authorized history of MI6, Keith Jeffery, tells us about the evolution of the secret intelligence services, their representation in fiction, and the man Fleming may have had in mind when he created James Bond

    The best books on The Aftermath of World War II, recommended by Keith Lowe

  • Read

    1

    Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945
    by Tony Judt

  • Read

    2

    The Long Road Home
    by Ben Shephard

  • Read

    3

    A Woman in Berlin
    by Anonymous

  • Read

    4

    Naples ’44
    by Norman Lewis

  • Read

    5

    Forest Brothers
    by Juozas Luksa

The best books on The Aftermath of World War II, recommended by Keith Lowe

Postwar Europe was a scene of both physical and moral destruction. The author of Savage Continent, winner of the Hessell-Tiltman History Prize, recommends essential reading for understanding the sheer scale of suffering, dislocation and fighting after the war was over.

    The best books on Peace, recommended by John Gittings

  • Read

    1

    The Iliad
    by Homer

  • Read

    2

    The Art of Peace
    by Erasmus

  • Read

    3

    Tales of Army Life
    by Leo Tolstoy

  • Read

    4

    Beyond War
    by Douglas Fry

  • Read

    5

    Confronting the Bomb
    by Lawrence Wittner

The best books on Peace, recommended by John Gittings

History is usually studied and written from the perspective of war, says veteran journalist John Gittings. It can look very different when viewed from the perspective of peace.

    The best books on The US Intelligence Services, recommended by Tim Weiner

  • Read

    1

    The Art of War
    by Sun Tzu & Sun Zi

  • Read

    2

    The Invisible Government
    by David Wise and Thomas B Ross

  • Read

    3

    From the Shadows
    by Robert M Gates

  • Read

    4

    The March of Folly
    by Barbara W Tuchman

  • Read

    5

    Nineteen Eighty-Four
    by George Orwell

The best books on The US Intelligence Services, recommended by Tim Weiner

The job of the intelligence services is to understand others and help leaders act more wisely, says the author of a new history of the FBI. There’s a balance to be struck between liberty and security but when the CIA and FBI do not harmonise their intelligence missions, people die.

    The best books on China and the US, recommended by Orville Schell

  • Read

    1

    To Change China
    by Jonathan D Spence

  • Read

    2

    In Search of Wealth of Power
    by Benjamin Schwartz

  • Read

    3

    Hermit of Peking
    by Hugh Trevor-Roper

  • Read

    4

    Thunder Out of China
    by Theodore H White and Annalee Jacoby

  • Read

    5

    Chinese Shadows
    by Simon Leys

The best books on China and the US, recommended by Orville Schell

The changing relationship between China and America will be one of the defining foreign policy issues of our times. To understand its dynamic, says the sinologist, we must take account of China’s lingering sense of victimhood

    The best books on The Iraq War, recommended by Patrick Cockburn

  • Read

    1

    The Occupation of Iraq
    by Ali A Allawi

  • Read

    2

    Fiasco
    by Thomas E Ricks

  • Read

    3

    The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movement in Iraq
    by Hanna Batatu

  • Read

    4

    Aftermath
    by Nir Rosen

  • Read

    5

    After Such Knowledge, What Forgiveness?
    by Jonathan Randal

The best books on The Iraq War, recommended by Patrick Cockburn

The veteran Middle East correspondent gives us his tips for the best reading about the US-led invasion and occupation, and explains why the West shouldn’t have intervened in Iraq in the first place

    The best books on Diplomacy, recommended by Michael Palliser

  • Read

    1

    Diplomacy
    by Henry Kissinger

  • Read

    2

    Talleyrand
    by Duff Cooper

  • Read

    3

    Postwar: The Dawn of Today's Europe
    by Richard Mayne

  • Read

    4

    Le Fil de l'Epée
    by Charles De Gaulle

  • Read

    5

    The Boys on the Bongo Bus
    by John Dickie (journalist)

The best books on Diplomacy, recommended by Michael Palliser

Veteran diplomat Michael Palliser discusses his friend Henry Kissinger’s diplomatic skills and says his experiences in post-war Germany made him a committed European

    The best books on Non-Military Solutions to Political Conflict, recommended by David Cortright

  • Read

    1

    Civilian Jihad
    by Maria J. Stephan (Editor)

  • Read

    2

    The Ultimate Weapon is No Weapon
    by Mary Kaldor & Shannon D. Beebe, Mary H. Kaldor

  • Read

    3

    No God but God
    by Reza Aslan

  • Read

    4

    How Terrorist Groups End
    by Seth G. Jones and Martin Libicky

  • Read

    5

    Vietnam
    by John Prados

The best books on Non-Military Solutions to Political Conflict, recommended by David Cortright

David Cortright, Notre Dame peace studies expert, identifies and rejects one of the myths about non-violent action: that it only works in liberal democracies. He outlines that non-violent protests can achieve their aims, that terrorism can only cease through negotiation, and that wars rarely have winners.

    The best books on U.S. relations with Latin America, recommended by William LeoGrande

  • Read

    1

    Beneath the United States
    by Lars Schoultz

  • Read

    2

    Our Man in Havana
    by Graham Greene

  • Read

    3

    Inevitable Revolutions
    by Walter LaFeber

  • Read

    4

    Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba
    by Tom Gjelten

  • Read

    5

    The Empire's Old Clothes
    by Ariel Dorfman

The best books on U.S. relations with Latin America, recommended by William LeoGrande

U.S. government adviser and Dean of the American University School of Public Affairs leads a book-bound tour that takes us from the Bacardi dynasty in Cuba to American military interventions in Central America

    The best books on War and Foreign Policy, recommended by John David Lewis

  • Read

    1

    Rise of the Roman Empire by Polybius
    by Ian Scott-Kilvert

  • Read

    2

    Neoconservatism
    by C Bradley Thompson and Yaron Brook

  • Read

    3

    Winning the Unwinnable War
    by Elan Journo

  • Read

    4

    A Foreign Policy of Self Interest
    by Peter Schwartz

  • Read

    5

    Embracing Defeat
    by John W Dower

The best books on War and Foreign Policy, recommended by John David Lewis

Duke University professor choose fives books on war and foreign policy and says that neoconservative veneration of nationalism leads to a foreign policy of perpetual war overseas

    The best books on The Thrill of Diplomacy, recommended by Mike Maclay

  • Read

    1

    The Laughing Diplomat
    by Daniele Varè

  • Read

    2

    Peacemakers
    by Margaret Macmillan

  • Read

    3

    The Search for Peace
    by Douglas Hurd

  • Read

    4

    Peace Journey
    by Carl Bildt

  • Read

    5

    The Utility of Force
    by Rupert Smith

The best books on The Thrill of Diplomacy, recommended by Mike Maclay

Ex-diplomat who served as Special Advisor to UK Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd, chooses five books on the glamour, the reality and the future of the people trained in the canny art of diplomacy

    The best books on Diplomacy, recommended by Jeremy Greenstock

  • Read

    1

    Satow’s Diplomatic Practice
    by Sir Ivor Roberts

  • Read

    2

    Diplomacy
    by Henry Kissinger

  • Read

    3

    Choose Your Weapons
    by Douglas Hurd

  • Read

    4

    Fiasco
    by Thomas E Ricks

  • Read

    5

    New World Disorder
    by David Hannay

The best books on Diplomacy, recommended by Jeremy Greenstock

The veteran British diplomat Jeremy Greenstock talks about the history and future of diplomacy. On Iraq: ‘The magnificent work that was done was largely wasted, and lives with it – both Iraqi and outsiders’

    The best books on Grand Strategy, recommended by Charles Kupchan

  • Read

    1

    War and Change in World Politics
    by Robert Gilpin

  • Read

    2

    The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery
    by Paul Kennedy

  • Read

    3

    Strategies of Containment
    by John Gaddis

  • Read

    4

    Political Community in the North Atlantic Area
    by Karl Deutsch

  • Read

    5

    After Victory
    by John Ikenberry

The best books on Grand Strategy, recommended by Charles Kupchan

The Professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University and Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations discusses diplomacy versus coercion and selects five essential books on international relations.

    The best books on Why We Need Diplomats, recommended by Geoff Berridge

  • Read

    1

    The Embassador and His Functions
    by Abraham de Wicquefort

  • Read

    2

    The Evolution of Diplomatic Method
    by Harold Nicolson

  • Read

    3

    White House Years
    by Henry Kissinger

  • Read

    4

    The Collision of Two Civilisations
    by Alain Peyrefitte

  • Read

    5

    The Cinderella Service
    by D C M Platt

The best books on Why We Need Diplomats, recommended by Geoff Berridge

Academic and author of textbooks on the field tells us that diplomacy can well do without rank amateurs “in the same way that medicine can do without snake-oil merchants”

    The best books on US-Israel Relations, recommended by Stephen Walt

  • Read

    1

    The Israel Lobby and American Foreign Policy
    by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt

  • Read

    2

    Exodus
    by Leon Uris

  • Read

    3

    The Holocaust in American Life
    by Peter Novick

  • Read

    4

    Peace Process
    by William Quandt

  • Read

    5

    On the Road to Armageddon
    by Timothy P Weber

The best books on US-Israel Relations, recommended by Stephen Walt

The international relations professor tells us about the special relationship between America and Israel – how it came about, what it means, and how it should change

    The best books on The UN, recommended by Edward Mortimer

  • Read

    1

    A Life in Peace and War
    by Brian Urquhart

  • Read

    2

    Kofi Annan
    by Fred Eckhard

  • Read

    3

    Chasing the Flame
    by Samantha Power

  • Read

    4

    The Best Intentions
    by James Traub

  • Read

    5

    A Billion Lives
    by Jan Egeland

The best books on The UN, recommended by Edward Mortimer

Former Director of Communications to Kofi Annan talks about need for reform, Camp David talks breaking down “the whole atmosphere in the organization became poison”, and his boss. He picks the best five books on the UN

    The best books on War, recommended by Mary Kaldor

  • Read

    1

    On War
    by Carl von Clausewitz

  • Read

    2

    Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument With Historical Illustrations
    by Michael Walzer

  • Read

    3

    The Utility of Force
    by Rupert Smith

  • Read

    4

    The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One
    by David Kilcullen

  • Read

    5

    Wired for War
    by P W Singer

The best books on War, recommended by Mary Kaldor

The Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Governance at the London School of Economics says there is fine line between being a hero and being a murderer – that’s why the Geneva convention matters

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