The Limits of Culture: Islam and Foreign Policy. Edited by Brenda Shaffer. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2006. 360p. $50.00 cloth, $25.00 paper.

This edited volume addresses a question of great interest to scholars working at the intersection of international and comparative politics: What influence does culture exert over a state's foreign policy? In seeking to provide answers, the book focuses on the foreign policies of the states of the greater Caspian region during the first decade after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.