John T. Rourke, Ph.D., professor emeritus, is former head of the Department of Political Science at The University of Connecticut. He is author of International Politics on the World Stage, Eleventh Edition (McGraw-Hill, 2007); the author of Presidential Wars and American Democracy: Rally ‘Round the Chief (Paragon House, 1993); a coauthor of Direct Democracy and International Politics: Deciding International Issues through Referendums (Lynn Rienner, 1992); the editor of Taking Sides: Clashing Views in World Politics, Twelfth Edition, expanded (McGraw-Hill, 2007) and You Decide: Current Debates in American Politics (Longman, 2005); the author of Making Foreign Policy: United States,… Soviet Union, China (Brooks Cole, 1990), Congress and the Presidency in U.S. Foreign Policymaking (Westview, 1985), and numerous articles and papers. He continues to teach and especially enjoys introductory classes. His regard for the students has molded his approach to writing—he conveys scholarship in a language and within a frame of reference that undergraduates can appreciate. Rourke believes, as the theme of this book reflects, that politics affect us all and we can affect politics. Rourke practices what he propounds; his career long involved the university’s internship program and advising one of its political clubs. Additionally, he has served as a staff member of Connecticut’s legislature, and has been involved in political campaigns on the local, state, and national levels.