"Proposes an analytical foundation for national security that challenges long-held assumptions or outdated suppositions about foreign affairs. Presents case studies of American foreign policy toward developing countries, efforts at state building, and nations growing in importance. Concludes...

Mali long seemed a model, low-income democracy. Yet, in a few short weeks in early 2012, more than half of the territory came under the military control of an Islamist secessionist movement, and a military coup deposed the democratically-elected government in the capital. Given the substantial...