For the past two decades, trade policy has been high on the American political agenda, thanks to the growing integration of the United States into the global economy and the wealth of debate this development has sparked. Although scholars have explored many aspects of U.S. trade policy, there has been little study of the role played by party politics. With Trading Blows, James Shoch fills that gap. Shoch offers detailed case studies of almost all of the major trade issues of the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton eras, including administrative and legislative efforts to curb auto, steel, and other imports and to open up markets in Japan and elsewhere, as well as free-trade initiatives such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) treaty that concluded the Uruguay Round of international trade talks, the extension of presidential fast-track trade negotiating authority, and the approval of permanent normal trade relations with China. In so doing, he explains the complex patterns of party competition over U.S. trade policy since 1980 and demonstrates the significant impact that party politics has had on the nation's recent trade policy decisions.

China's rise is altering global power relations, reshaping economic debates, and commanding tremendous public attention. Despite extensive media and academic scrutiny, the conventional wisdom about China's economy is often wrong. Cracking the China Conundrum provides a holistic and contrarian view of China's major economic, political, and foreign policy issues. Yukon Huang trenchantly addresses widely accepted yet misguided views in the analysis of China's economy. He examines arguments about the causes and effects of China's possible debt and property market bubbles, trade and investment relations with the Western world, the links between corruption and political liberalization in a growing economy and Beijing's more assertive foreign policies. Huang explains that such misconceptions arise in part because China's economic system is unprecedented in many ways-namely because it's driven by both the market and state- which complicates the task of designing accurate and adaptable analysis and research. Further, China's size, regional diversity, and uniquely decentralized administrative system poses difficulties for making generalizations and comparisons from micro to macro levels when trying to interpret China's economic state accurately. This book not only interprets the ideologies that experts continue building misguided theories upon, but also examines the contributing factors to this puzzle. Cracking the China Conundrum provides an enlightening and corrective viewpoint on several major economic and political foreign policy concerns currently shaping China's economic environment.

This text suggests solutions to the obstacles facing the USA and European Union as they race to secure their positions in the global information age. Despite the size and prowess of both the USA and European Union, neither will be able to take advantage of this age without a collaborative effort.

First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

As a former U.S. diplomat in Europe, John W. Holmes watched the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) fulfill its purpose with the disintegration of the Soviet Union. In The United States and Europe after the Cold War, he explores the possibilities for future transatlantic relations in light of NATO's ebbing usefulness. Finding that a basis still exists for an alliance between the United States and the European Union, Holmes sets forth a comprehensive plan for establishing an association as long-lasting and profitable as the one now drawing to a close. Holmes advocates a solid foundation for the alliance, one that approaches a formal economic union. He lists key considerations for the construction of a new, effective relationship, including the growing impatience of Americans and Europeans with substantial U.S. military contingents in Europe, the changing nature of intra-European relations, and the need for a distribution of power more equitable than that of NATO.