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This is a rerelease, without revisions, of a book first published in 1991. It focuses on bipartisanship in all aspects specifically pertaining to US government foreign policy. Collier is not taking a political position on this subject; she examines in detail what bipartisanship consists of, when and why it has been appropriate and yielded positive results, and when and why it has had a negative, or mixed, impact. Notably, governmental decisions following World War II were in some cases strikingly and genuinely bipartisan, a primary example being the North Atlantic Treaty. The author explains that true bipartisanship occurs when the President, who is charged with making foreign policy, has nearly full support of both House and Senate. There is a clear indication that between the Truman, post-war administration and the 1990s, bipartisanship gradually eroded.
The author wrote this material while working as a specialist in U.S. Foreign Policy for the Library of Congress Congressional Research Service. Her treatise is an in-depth exploration of the subject, using numerous examples including quotations from public speeches and behind-the-scenes views of policy in the making. She organizes her book into three parts: Part I is a historical review of bipartisanship; Part II offers documents related to the issue; Part III presents ideas for improving the consultation vital to bipartisanship.
Collier does an admirable job of remaining unbiased. In her role as a researcher, the author is careful not to deviate from strictly presenting the facts and leaving it to the reader to draw conclusions (although guided by well-considered suggestions offered in Part III). Though the scope of Collier’s book ends in the early 1990s, there is no doubt that this rerelease is relevant to today’s political forum and may garner special attention for that reason.
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