The essays included in this volume were written for a series of seminars which took place at the Washington Center of Foreign Policy Research of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Held at a time when a victory of the Left was widely expected in the legislative elections of March 12 and 19, 1978, the series reflected the Center's continuing interest in the changing international environment of American foreign policy. As it is well known, such predictions did not come to pass. Yet, these essays, revised and updated, remain eminently useful for reasons which should become all too evident in the pages that follow.