Register for the Webinar
Join us on Thursday, October 19, as we discuss author and American University professor, Dr. Jordan Tama’s new book, Bipartisanship and US Foreign Policy Cooperation in a Polarized Age.
In an era of ever-increasing polarization in Congress, foreign policy remains marked by frequent bipartisanship. In Bipartisanship and US Foreign Policy, Dr. Tama shows that, even as polarization in American politics reaches new heights, Democrats and Republicans in Washington continue to cooperate on important international issues. Looking closely at congressional voting patterns and recent debates over military action, economic sanctions, international trade, and foreign policy spending, Dr. Tama reveals that bipartisanship remains surprisingly common when US elected officials turn their attention overseas. Yet bipartisanship today rarely involves complete unity. Instead, bipartisan coalitions spanning members of both parties often coexist with intra-party divisions or disagreement between Congress and the president, making it difficult for the United States to speak with one voice on the global stage. Drawing on new data and interviews with more than 100 foreign policy practitioners, this book documents the persistence of bipartisanship on international issues and highlights key factors that facilitate or impede cooperation on foreign policy challenges.Like all USCHS programs, this webinar is free and open to the public; registration is required.
Dr. Jordan Tama specializes in the politics, institutions, and tools of U.S. foreign and national security policy making. His research has investigated polarization and bipartisanship in US foreign policy, presidential-congressional relations, the use of economic sanctions, public and elite attitudes on foreign policy, national security strategic planning, independent commissions, and efforts to connect research and policy making on international issues.
Dr. Tama’s publications include four books: Bipartisanship and US Foreign Policy: Cooperation in a Polarized Age (Oxford University Press, 2024); Rivals for Power: Presidential-Congressional Relations, Sixth Edition, co-edited with James A. Thurber (Rowman and Littlefield, 2018); Terrorism and National Security Reform: How Commissions Can Drive Change During Crises (Cambridge University Press, 2011); and A Creative Tension: The Foreign Policy Roles of the President and Congress, co-authored with Lee H. Hamilton (Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2002). He has also authored numerous journal articles, book chapters, policy reports, and articles in major newspapers and policy magazines.
Dr. Tama is Co-Director of Bridging the Gap, President of the National Capital Area Political Science Association, and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. His work has been supported by the American Political Science Association, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, IBM Center for the Business of Government, Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Raymond Frankel Foundation, Social Science Research Center, and Woodrow Wilson Center. He has served as a fellow on the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in the U.S. House of Representatives, a foreign policy speechwriter to former U.S. Representative Lee Hamilton, and a national security advisor to Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
In an era of ever-increasing polarization in the US Congress, American foreign policy remains marked by frequent bipartisanship. In Bipartisanship and US Foreign Policy, Jordan Tama shows that, even as polarization in American politics reaches new heights, Democrats and Republicans in Washington continue to cooperate on important international issues. Looking closely at congressional voting patterns and recent debates over military action, economic sanctions, international trade, and foreign policy spending, Tama reveals that bipartisanship remains surprisingly common when US elected officials turn their attention overseas. Yet bipartisanship today rarely involves complete unity. Instead, bipartisan coalitions spanning members of both parties often coexist with intra-party divisions or disagreement between Congress and the president, making it difficult for the United States to speak with one voice on the global stage. Drawing on new data and interviews of more than 100 foreign policy practitioners, this book documents the persistence of bipartisanship on international issues and highlights key factors that facilitate or impede cooperation on foreign policy challenges.
