Hillary Rodham Clinton has spent over five decades in public service as an advocate, attorney, First Lady, U.S. Senator, U.S. Secretary of State, and presidential candidate. As the 67th U.S. Secretary of State, her "smart power" approach to foreign policy repositioned American diplomacy and development for the twenty-first century. Clinton played a central role in restoring America's standing in the world, reasserting the United States as a Pacific power, imposing crippling sanctions on Iran and North Korea, responding to the Arab Awakening, negotiating a ceasefire in the Middle East, and championing human rights, democracy, and opportunities for women and girls.

In her historic 2016 campaign for President of the United States, Clinton won sixty-six million votes. She is the author of eleven best-selling books, founder of the global production studio HiddenLight Productions, a producer of the Broadway musical Suffs, Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast, Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and Faculty Advisory Board Chair of Columbia's Institute of Global Politics.

Keren Yarhi-Milo is Dean of Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and the Adlai E. Stevenson Professor of International Relations. She is a renowned scholar and leading authority on international security, foreign policy decision-making, and political psychology, and author of two award-winning books: Who Fights for Reputation: The Psychology of Leaders in International Conflict (Princeton University Press, 2018), winner of both the American Political Science Association's Foreign Policy Section Book Award and the International Studies Association's Best Foreign Policy Book Award; and Knowing the Adversary: Leaders, Intelligence, and Assessment of Intentions in International Relations (Princeton University Press, 2014), winner of the Edgar S. Furniss Book Award in International Security Studies. She has published extensively in leading academic journals as well as in Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic.

Yarhi-Milo serves as editor of the Princeton Studies in International History and Politics book series. In 2023, she cofounded the Institute of Global Politics at Columbia University with Secretary Clinton as a hub for interdisciplinary engagement on global challenges. Yarhi-Milo earned her PhD in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

• Contributor Bios


• Introduction


• Section 1


• 1: Don Casler and Keren Yarhi-Milo: The Challenges of Threat Assessment: Does Danger Depend on Who You Ask?


• 2: Tyler Jost, Joshua D. Kertzer, Eric Min, and Robert Schub: The Role of Advisers: How Ideas Shape International Crises


• 3: Rose McDermott: How Emotions Shape Crisis Decision-Making: The Role of Fear, Anger, and Risk


• Section 2


• 4: Marcus Holmes: The Trust Gap: Why Face-to-Face Diplomacy Matters in Global Crises


• 5: Catherine Ashton: The Iran Deal: Making Decisions Count in Multilateral Diplomacy


• 6: Dennis Ross: The Challenges of Effective Statecraft: An Examination of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict


• 7: Reid B. C. Pauly and Jessica Chen Weiss: How Coercive Diplomacy Works: Making Threats in International Crises


• 8: John J. Sullivan: When Coercive Diplomacy Doesn't Work: Lessons Learned Through Failures with a Hostile Adversary


• 9: Austin Carson: The Unique Challenges of Covert Missions: How Leaders Assess the "Quiet Option"


• 10: Robert C. O'Brien: The Baghdadi Operation: A Quickly and Quietly Orchestrated Plan


• 11: Leon E. Panetta: The Bin Laden Operation: How a President Made a Risky Decision


• 12: Jennifer Klein, Rebecca Turkington, Melanne Verveer, and Rachel Vogelstein: Women's Participation in Security Processes: A Strategic Imperative


• 13: Elizabeth N. Saunders and Jessica L. P. Weeks: The Elusive Role of Public Opinion: The Invisible Decision-Makers in the Room


• 14: Victoria Nuland: Public Opinion Matters: How and Why Citizens Have Influence in the Situation Room


• Conclusion: From the Situation Room to the Classroom


• Bibliography


• Index