Sailing the Water’s Edge: The Domestic Politics of American Foreign Policy

The U.S. government has several avenues for practicing foreign policy, such as monetary and physical aid, trade, and military force. In Sailing the Water’s Edge (Princeton Unversity Press), politics and government professors Helen V. Milner and Dustin Tingley explore how and when each of these tools is used, and by whom. One important path of their exploration is how presidents often promote policy options involving the military, since it is the avenue in which they have the most direct control and power.