Foreign policy in the postcold war era is profoundly complex, and so too are the institutions that share the responsibility to guide and manage America''s relations with other countries. Policymakers struggle within porous and fragmented institutions, in which policy is driven more powerfully by clusters of like-minded individuals than by disciplined organizations. The nation''s political parties face deep divisions over foreign policy and are unable to forge a coherent vision for the future. Congress is increasingly polarized along ideological lines, while traditional internationalist foreign policy spans a truncated political center. Few aspects of U.S. politics are more contentious or controversial than the respective roles of Congress and the executive branch in formulating foreign policy. In this complex environment, scholars, pundits, and policymakers look to the public and high-profile battles between Congress and the president as a bellwether of the future of U.S. forei
