Customer Reviews

Foreign Affairs

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I have to admit that when I subscribed to this magazine for the first time about five years ago, I did so out of a sense of duty to educate myself about all of the foreign policy and political things that I wasn't taught in school. It did seem a little dry from the get-go, but now I am a Foreign Affairs junkie, so to speak. Those who contribute articles to this magazine are professors, politicians, heads of state, and other great (and occasionally not-so-great) thinkers of our times. One gets the perspectives of world events from educated individuals from all over the world, not just America, and sometimes the points of view are very different than those of the American media. I also appreciate that Foreign Affairs publishes articles that almost seem to foreshadow news events - (they were covering background on Kosovo before newscasters in this country even knew where Kosovo was.) From reading this magazine one can see that very few problems in the world are "overnight" or occur "out of nowhere" but are usually the result of problems and conflicts that have been happening for some time, if only out of the spotlight of the Western mainstream media. The analysis in these articles is deep - many articles are over twenty pages long. The reader is left feeling more enlightened and not as if the issue has just been "glossed over." I enjoy reading the Letters to the Editor as well. It is great to see an article rebutted by another area expert who provides his or her insight to the problem at hand. Also,the list of contributors to Letters to the Editor reads like a list of Who's Who in Politics. It is amazing to see the people in government, here and abroad, who read this magazine. Probably more of them should.

Foreign Affairs is mandatory reading for the serious student of global diplomacy. The comments, essays and book reviews in this bimonthly publication are always well researched, written and presented in a straightforward fashion. Moreover, Foreign Affairs will consistently crystallize contemporary thinking on a vast array of foreign subjects.

I often wonder how Editor James Hoge manages to regularly tap the finest minds in the world for each issue. Certainly, the editorial staff of this outstanding publication is dedicated to the highest standards of excellence as well making sure that Foreign Affairs represents provocative worldwide cutting edge schools of thought.

Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Russia, France, Mexico or Colombia...you name it, Foreign Affairs examines it in great detail. To this end, there is no hot spot in global affairs that does not considerable academic or journalistic attention. Foreign Affairs will also focus on sensitive issues such as French Anti-Americanism or Bush's Nuclear Follies with clear and concise observations. I cannot think of a mainstream publication in the United States with the courage and vision to cover such important ground.

Bert Ruiz

The only magazine I read from cover to cover is Foreign Affairs, published by the distinguished bi-partisan Council on Foreign Relations. Ideas and issues presented in each issue are discussed six months later in the news. A recent example of this phenomenon is the publication of Daniel Yergin and Michael Stoppard's The Next Prize, about strategic issues surrounding the future of natural gas as an energy source. The article appeared in late 2003, and since then the concerns raised in the article have reverberated in business publications, energy conferences and Sunday talk shows.

Since my childhood I have thought of Foreign Affairs as an influential publication in leadership circles. Over a quarter century ago, I remember reading that Henry Kissinger promoted Daniel Patrick Moynihan as US Ambassador to the United Nations on the basis of an article he wrote in Foreign Affairs. As the founder of a company dedicated to cultural and business travel to Russia, I need to stay ahead of the knowledge curve with regards to the world, rather than just be informed of events. I find Foreign Affairs to be the single most valuable tool to stay informed about foreign policy, trends in world affairs, and current political thought.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS makes no apology for its antiquated typescript, large print, and generally stodgy appearance. It hardly needs to.

It is simply one of the consistently finest sources of foreign policy discussion available from an American (thus *foreign* policy means USA vis-à-vis the world) point of view. The design folks have correctly discerned that toying with appearances could only interfere with a train that rolls just fine as it is.

FA is often the vehicle of choice for American foreign policy officers who have moved on to think tanks and other private sector roles. For example, see the Richard Holbrooke (he of the Dayton Accords) piece entitled 'Liberalism and Foreign Policy' in the most recent (July/August 2006) issue available to this reviewer.

The voice most often heard in FA is decidely that of the Washington establishment, broadly defined. Yet the editors occasionally toss in a dissenting viewpoint like that of Hugo Chávez' Ambassador to the US ('A Benign Revolution: In Defense of Hugo Chávez', July/August 2006) for color.

The writing is well informed and superbly edited. Roundtable discussions on issues of concern are common, as are themed issues. Again from the recent issue, the topic 'The Rise of India' provides space for four essays entitled 'Unshackling the Economy', 'India's Global Strategy', 'America's New Partner?', and 'The Kashmir Conundrum'. FA's genius lies in that the globe's foreign policy experts will have digested these contributions with great care, yet the business traveler on her first trip to India can easily do the same on the first flight of her journey. Such is the quality of FA's editorial work.

Long-time readers often discern an editorial drift to the right or the left, a perception that may owe as much to the changing currents of international affairs and the constantly moving matrix in which any statement must be written and read as to any real shift in the journal's political leanings.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS is a must read for career internationalists, a worthwhile educational tool for those who want to know what America's brightest (thought not always most in touch with facts on the ground) policy makers are thinking, and a diversion for hobbyists whose curiosity regularly yanks them tornado-like out of Kansas.

I've been reading FA since 2001 and have found it to be consistently good. There are only six issues each year, so I have time to read it front to back each time. The articles are more in-depth than something you might read in the Economist or other weekly news magazine. This is not something you read for headlines, but something you read for issues.

FA seems to me to be non-partisan. Condi Rice, Chuck Hagel, and Donald Rumsfeld get space to write, but so does Madeline Albright and Samuel Berger.

Recent articles I liked: "How to Counter WMD" by Ashton B. Carter, "How to Stop Nuclear Terror" by Graham Allison, and "The Outsourcing Bogeyman" by Daniel W. Drezner.

I have been reading Foreign Affairs for more than 30 years. It is an integral part of a broad-based understanding of international issues, both current and historical. It can also be very prescient at times. (See Clash of Civilizations, 1993)

The articles are not to be rushed through. Read them slowly and savor them, whether you agree with them or not. Give it a try!

In the years I have taken this magazine, I have noted that often covered material becomes tomorrow's news from the latest hot-spot in the world. So prescient, it is eery - if you have any interest in current events, news or foreign affairs, this journal is a must read. The contributors are a Who's Who of politics, science and business in the world. Often the author list will become the under-secretary of state list in the next administration. For example, the last issue discussed Avian Flu virus. As a physician, I can tell you that these were excellent informative articles that explained clearly what was happening and what the danger was. And now this stuff is on TV every day and I can amaze my patients with how much I know about the issue that no one else does. Reading this will definitely make you look smart. Try this experiment and see if I'm right. This article is written in October 2005, days after receiving the October issue with multiple articles about China written by Chinese authors. Of course that means that these articles aren't really useful for facts so much as they are useful for seeing what China wants us to believe. I predict that China will be much more in the news in the next 6 to 12 months. So put this magazine to the test and see.

One negative is that although the authors are bi-partisan regarding party, they are not "conservative". You won't ever find pro-tariff, anti illegal immigration, isolationist, anti judicial activism or pro-life articles in here. Indeed, regardless of which party an author supports, you can pretty much count on expanded government, especially one-world government presented as the solution.

And lastly, some of the articles are deadly boring and contain stilted, obfuscated, diplomatic jargon. You will rarely find a simple, eloquent phrase, but you will often find ideas that will pop up in any analysis of the news. Just realize many of these authors are diplomats and politicians whose careers depend on obfuscation and plausible deniability.

All in all, this is an extremely influential journal that is full of cutting-edge ideas. Just realize that many of them may be wrong.

Foreign Affairs magazine is one of the most authorative, primary source of information regarding geopolitical and economic affairs. Although principally a medium for elites to express their opinion regarding what is happening around the world, this material can allow anyone in the world, even in remote regions, to feel quite connected with those in power.

Written in clear, concise English, it is surprisingly readable considering the subject matter. Don't expect any pictures, however: there are none. However, if you want information on Iraq, North Korean, Iran, and the UN, this is your source of material. Some of the subject matter, of course, is biased: sometimes Clinton croonies contribute material, which I quickly ignore by averting my eyes. But the magazine is not meant to be a source of objective material: there is no reporting, the way you find in The Economist; all of it is first-person essays.

Michael Gordon

Two decades ago as a bright eyed Navy Ensign I wanted to know more about why I was sent overseas. After a bit of research I found out that the Council on Foreign Relations, a prestigious foreign affairs think tank, published a journal entitled Foreign Affairs and subscribed. That's how I came to find Foreign Affairs and I'm so glad I did.

Foreign Affairs quickly turned out to be one of the best journals I have ever read. As a young Ensign traveling the world, it provided great insight on why we were out there doing what we were doing. Between its covers, you'll find long thoughtful and insightful essays written by Condolezza Rice, Robert Gates, Rumsfeld, Kaplan, Brzizinski and scores of others making their cases for why America should pursue certain courses of action. Many times these articles precede the mass media news by months on where America is going.

The journal is published six times a year and has:
- 2 to 3 Reasonably sized Comments
- 8 to 10 Essays written by leaders of government
- 4 to 5 Book Reviews and Responses

Everything is very well written and thoroughly researched. In short, you won't find a better journal on Foreign Affairs. Since first subscribing almost two decades ago, I have read all the other political science journals out there and have found that Foreign Affairs is the standard international affairs journal by which all others are measured. These are the essays that are at the forefront of what politicians are discussing.

The more I studied and the more I learned, more I also started reading Plato, Locke, Hobbs, other classical works - the more I realized that Foreign Affairs is the purest of Rhetoric...and Foreign Affairs is rhetoric of a very high order.

So profoundly did Foreign Affairs and Military service affect me that I went on to get a postgrad in international affairs and economics. Diplomatic international affairs, the rhetoric, is America's first line of defense in a broad international battlefield that is fought primarily with words but which certainly is tied to lives and blood when the rhetoric escalates to a certain degree. For example, Europe not supporting America during the Iraq war had the price of additional American lives lost....the price for losing the war of words with Europe with respect to Iraq cost us in the currency of blood.

Overall foreign affairs is a battlefield where the British, French, Germans, Arabs, Chinese, Japanese, the giant corporations of the world and others fight for the hearts and minds of the American People(with America being one of the most diverse societies in the world) and for the hearts and minds of people around the world. Many times, things get very complex and its hard to tell who is America's friend and who is not and sometimes our friends on one front are our enemies in another. In the end, we have to assume that CFR is PRO AMERICA - otherwise, we're really in a pile of doo doo, but yes - even CFR is swayed by the forces of Foreign Affairs and Diplomacy. Diplomacy is probably the most complex chess game we play and its a game where the stakes are so high that we can't afford to lose. Foreign Affairs, the publication, gives you a front seat to the game.

If you want to understand, contribute, or at least not detract -- subscribe. Only through knowledge can you engage in thoughful debate.

This magazine is simply the very best there is - and I too have been reading it faithfully for many years now. It is THE magazine for anyone who wants to be any kind of globally aware citizen in these troubled times - and it is always easy to understand and written in plain English as well (which certainly does help....) I will be a happy reader I trust for many more years to come. Christopher Catherwood, author of CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS AND ISLAMIC RAGE (Zondervan, 2003)