The expanding role of state and local governments in U.S. foreign affairs

In this volume, Earl Fry explores the forces behind the rise of state and local influence in foreign affairs. As the lives of Americans become enmeshed with those of peoples outside U.S. borders - whether through trade, immigration, travel, or the internet - the consequences reach deep into state and local government. With all this activity, the federal government is less able to regulate the multiple strands of U.S. involvement in the world.

Thus, state and local governments increasingly shape the ways Americans cope with the outside world. Fry documents these various forces, and suggests how the different levels of U.S. government - federal, state, and local - can best share the conduct of international relations.