The purpose of this guide is to provide voters, officeholders, and candidates with background information on major foreign policy issues so that they can follow the 1980 presidential debates and reach their own informed conclusions. Thirteen major foreign policy topics are covered. The material is written in telegraphic style to get the essential information into a limited space. All facts have been carefully researched and the approach is strictly impartial and nonpartisan. Each topic includes a section tracing administration policy and concludes by presenting alternatives to present policy, with main arguments pro and con. A few additional readings are listed for each subject. Topics treated are: Leadership: President vs. Congress; U.S. Defense Policy; International Terrorism; Energy: U.S. Dependence on Foreign Oil; Trade and the Dollar; The UN and Third-World Development; Southern Africa; China and Taiwan; Cambodia, Vietnam and the Refugee Crisis; The Caribbean and Central America; The Arab-Israeli Conflict; Iran, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf; and After Afghanistan: The U.S. and Russia. (Author/RM)