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This book is just a Classic for whoever want to explore social construction behind academic work.

Edit of 20 Dec 07 to add links.

This is the orginal gold standard book on the National Security Council, now "replaced" but not fully so, by the new edition, "Fateful Decisions: Inside the National Security Council," just published in February 2004.

However, this original edition contains two sections, one on "Disorders" (of the NSC) and the other on "Remedies" (for NSC dysfunctionalities) that have not been fully migrated to the new book, and for that reason, I recommend that this version of the book also be bought, as a supporting element for the value of those two sections and a few other items of significant historical value in understanding the NSC.

Readers should be aware that both books focus on the NSC as primarily a "big stick" actor obsessing with the use of military "hard" power to impose America's will, and while there are helpful mentions in both books of "soft" power options, by and large neither book really addresses the full range of instrumental of national power (commercial, cultural, religious), nor does each book address how one understands and orchestrates all the non-Federal actors including American evangelical organizations, chambers of commerce, multinational corporations, etcetera, in stabilizing and reconstructing the world.

Never-the-less, this is standard book in the field, bringing together the very best minds available in America, and the updated version, while updated, does not completely replace it.

The editors and publishers might usefully consider a new volume on "comparative national security decision-making" in which sections address how Arab, Chinese, European, South American, South Asian, and Russian national security decisions are made.

See also, with reviews:
Bureaucratic Politics And Foreign Policy
Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror
The Paradox of American Power: Why the World's Only Superpower Can't Go It Alone
The Fifty-Year Wound: How America's Cold War Victory Has Shaped Our World
The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People
War Is a Racket: The Anti-War Classic by America's Most Decorated General, Two Other Anti=Interventionist Tracts, and Photographs from the Horror of It
Why We Fight
The Fog of War - Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara
Ike - Countdown to D-Day

Holmes incisively studies how communism crumbled in the Soviet Union and eastern Europe. He presents a sophisticated comparative study across several communist countries that suggests that a central cause was the rise of corruption within the governments. Where, of course, these were co-extensive with the Communist Parties of the countries.

But Holmes argues that the corruption was ultimately only a symptom, albeit a most egregrious one. The basic cause was a lack of legitimacy of the Communist Party, other than by force. While this sufficed to bring each party into power, the decades of peace that followed necessitated a gradual moderation.

The book goes into describing various types of corruption, as determined in the Soviet Union and other countries. Along with an indepth look at how the authorities tried to respond to corruption. Holmes also tries to suggest why the countries experienced so much corruption. Like the moderation of force mentioned above. Or an increasing cynicism amongst the nomenklatura, leading to a frenzy of each person for himself.

Holmes does not compare the effect of corruption between the communist countries and, say, several developing countries like Nigeria, Congo or Indonesia. Where it has been cited as one of the main causes of continued mass poverty. Though perhaps this would usefully be the subject of a later book.

The authors provide an interesting and commendably diverse set of 4 cases of ethnic tensions. Of these, two have been basically peacefully resolved over the decades - Turks in Germany and Chinese in Malaysia. Perhaps aided in part by prosperity in both countries, which could have reduced tension over distribution of national wealth and income.

Of the two other cases, the Kurds in Turkey and Iraq are now quite well known. In no small part because of the American invasion of Iraq. The Kurdish history has been far bloodier. The book was written before the invasion. Now, afterwards, the prospects for the Kurds may be a little brighter than what they have thus far endured.

I LIKED THE BOOK, WHICH I FOUND VERY WELL WRITTEN, AND MR. ALLOT TOUCHES THEMES THAT ARE OF EXTREME INTEREST TO ME.

Williams makes us think hard about the main axles connecting history with that practice we have now come to call International Relations (and its analogous discipline). It is a book that explores the fundaments of this Century's mishaps and successes, underlining the constant tension between revolt and acquiescence in human nature, a type of historical exposè of "how to go on" (in Wittgensteinian terminology), in terms of creating viable political orders along the line of Williams's intelligently conceived sequence of "the seven R's" [which become clear by the end of the book!]. Williams's project brings to the fore in an almost explosive manner, the ideas that the carnage of the Great War and later the Second World War gave birth to, ideas that were to shape whatever remains of this Century and most possibly the future.

However, what distinguishes this book is that it draws deep on concepts, meanings, history, philosphy and politics, the stuff our lives is made of; this knowledge that Williams has bound together in such an impressive way, is all too important not to have on one's bookshelf. It is crucial, if one is to understand how the lives of citizens spanning the globe have been affected by the formulations of - in many cases - just a few men. And it doesn't stop there: Williams presses hard for answers, by questioning what we have, how we got there, and most importantly, where we are going; almost in a Foucaultian way of understanding History; almost... Because, the questions asked are not simply to deconstruct certain given Truths we may have, they are not there as simply a matter of fact, to question the fact that we question; no, his questions are there to draw our attention to the past, contemplate intensely, and come up with serious solutions for a better 'world-system' next time round. A system which might actually for once develop into an equitable one. But what this book makes so clear, to myself in any case, is that it is up to us as a whole, and this can vividly be encountered in Williams's consideration of the pretext to the Great War, particularly in the first part of the book. The process of thought this book initiates in its later stages, is of salience not just for understanding the latest WTO trade talks or assessing the 'West's' regards toward Russia during the latest Cuacasian adventure, but for reaching far beyond the standard call of duty to address more fundamental issues regarding human viability and, most importantly, peace (with ourselves and one another) for the next Millennium. It is a stark mèlange examining our metaphysical conscience on the one hand, and our willingness and moral predisposition to act on the other.

Further, the fluidity and comprehensibility with which the work has been presented, is certainly beneficial to those of us that want to learn more about what underlies the questions we sometimes pose ourselves about our childrens' future, something others merely consider philosophical hyperbole. A highly commendable, excellent, and necessary piece of writing.

I would thus recommend this book with vigour, not simply for those amongst us who aspire to be, but - especially given the recent explosion of stronger trends in multilateral cooperation (enviornment, trade, etc.) - , most importantly, for those of us that are.

Basically, the book presumes what will be happenning by the year 200. Due to political injustice in Haiti, democratie seems not to be as effective as it is supposed to be. So the New Worl order may be a matter that can lead the country to become worst than before in all areas.

Clark's "Hierarchy" is a concise, well written book that covers issues of Kantian optimism, pessimism, and balance of power when analyzing interntaional reltaions, starting from the Congree of Vienna in 1815. Whether the author's structural breakdown of the last 200 years of European IR is perfectly accurate or not should not be the focus. Instead, the book is important because of the strength of the argument laid forth by Clark. A highly technical work, it is not easy reading, yet any person well grounded in IR theory will benefit from reading this book.

A good book from somebody that really knows the subject. Preston King have before organized lots of relevant articles about Hobbes, in four volumes. Now, he gifts us with an interesting comparative analyses of Bodin and Hobbes, about something that is important to everybody who was trying to understand State and sovereignity: how can we work with order and human beings?

A most enjoyable, well-informed introduction to--and enlightenment towards--the country and its people during a longest era called the "New Order." Readers will be introduced to the unbelievable Suharto in the first chapter, before they are taken to a journey to the what's-been-going-on: development process, democracy, society, succession,etc. Readers will only put down the book after being able to envision what will happen to a fragility at the end of the millenium.