Follies of Power
Follies of Power
The imagination of America's political elites is dominated by a unipolar vision, according to which the world is dominated by the United States. But the real world is increasingly plural, and others instinctively fear and resist the American vision. Chapters 2 and 3 of this book look at the disastrous consequences of the vision at work - in the Middle East and in Europe. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 assess the limits of American power. Chapter 7 discusses the problems of order and coexistence in a world that is not unipolar but increasingly plural. It speculates on the possible contributions and likely fate of both 'Old America' and 'New Europe' as models for organizing the future. America's own constitutional equilibrium, David Calleo argues, increasingly requires friendly balancing from Europe. Both sides of the West must liberate their imaginations from past triumphs to face their responsibilities to the new world and to each other.
- Brings together a rich interdisciplinary analysis of American strengths and weaknesses in a rapidly evolving world
- Links economic and historical dimensions to current policy issues
- Richly annotated
Reviews & endorsements
“David Calleo is one of our wisest commentators in international affairs. In Follies of Power he offers, just in time for a new American administration, a provocative new approach to American foreign policy, one that draws on his deep knowledge of American, European, and global history.”
Michael Mandelbaum, author, Democracy’s Good Name: The Rise and Risks of the World's Most Popular Form of Government
“With rare courage, insight and breadth of vision, David Calleo dissects the megalomaniac US national illusions that led the Bush administration to disaster but also endangers that of Obama. His vitally important work calls not for a tactical shift in US foreign policy but for a completely new way of looking at the world.”
Anatol Lieven, King's College London and the New America Foundation
“Once in a rare while a book arrives that cuts through the confusions and deceptions of a foreign policy gone dangerously awry. This is that book.”
Ronald Steel, Professor of International Relations, University of Southern California
"The book is a wide-ranging tour de force that covers geopolitical analysis, international economics, political theory, and global politics. The footnotes constitute a virtual bibliography on recent and contemporary international relations...For advanced students of international relations."
CHOICE, J.P. Dunn, Converse College
Product details
November 2014Paperback
9781107464209
190 pages
229 × 152 × 10 mm
0.26kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Part I. Geopolitical Illusions and their Consequences:
- 1. The unipolar fantasy
- 2. Hubris in the Middle East
- 3. The broken West
- Part II. The Nature and Limits of American Power:
- 4. Assessing America's soft and hard power
- 5. Feeding American power: the economic base
- 6. Power and legitimacy among Western states
- Part III. World Order in the New Century:
- 7. American and European models.
