Best Laid Plans looks at the long-standing but unresolved debate of the virtues and values of multilateralism vs. unilateralism in American foreign policy. Stewart Patrick argues that a combination of enduring identity commitments and new ideas, based on the lessons of recent, cataclysmic events, shaped the policy preferences of American central decision-makers in the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. Although steeped in history, the book's conclusions have tremendous relevance for the contemporary era, as debates are rife about the role of multilateral cooperation in the realization of U.S. foreign policy objectives.