For IR fans, this was Waltz' second book from 1967. It can be seen as an important book in comparing the US and British experience with world power, perhaps in the same light as Kennedy's "The Rise and Fall of Great Powers" or Friedberg's "The Weary Titan," but with more of a focus on the interplay of domestic and legislative interests rather than international economic and strategic ones. It's more of a traditional political science book than his "Theory of International Politics."
From the back of the book: "Americans have never been so dissatisfied with the performance of their political institutions and look abroad - especially to the United Kingdom - for a model that the US might emulate. This books asks whether UK policymaking is in fact any better than the American's way of doing business. In hard-hitting prose, this modern classic of rigorous political analysis offers realistic standards of comparison in the realm of foreign affairs and shows that, contrary to popular myth, British government is no better than American government when it comes to protecting national interests. For concerned citizens who care about the facts, this book provides a definite answer to mindless advocates of constitutional reform."
H. Bradford Westerfield in The Journal of Politics: "A worthy contribution to a great debate that now runs back at least a century to Walter Bagehot. In Waltz's hands the subject is still fresh, provocative, stimulating."
Carl J. Friedrich in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science: "The chapters on military policy, foreign aid, and Europe are case studies of considerable incisiveness."
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