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Abstract What is distinctively American about American foreign policy? The American Way of Foreign Policy answers that question by identifying three features of the nation’s relations with other countries and tracing their impact from the eighteenth century to the twenty-first. First, from its beginnings the United States has conducted an unusually ideological foreign policy in comparison with the foreign policies of other countries. It has tried, in different ways over the years, to promote the political ideas—individual rights, political democracy, and international peace—that have played a dominant role in America’s domestic politics. Second, while most countries have used political instruments to win economic benefits—the United States has reversed this pattern. It has regularly adopted economic policies, particularly sanctions, to pursue its political goals abroad. Third, the United States has conducted an unusually democratic foreign policy: the American public has had much more influence over its government’s activities abroad than the publics in other countries. It has had a particularly powerful impact on questions of war and peace, at times pushing the nation into armed conflict but at others forcing an end to it. Concisely and clearly written for the general reader, The American Way of Foreign Policy explores the origins of these three enduring features of the nation’s foreign relations, shows their effects throughout the nation’s history, and assesses their contributions to America’s successes and failures abroad. It provides readers with a new understanding of how and why America has conducted its relations with the world for over 250 years.