![]() ![]() The corollary to this is simple: for the US to slow its decline and to remain relevant in the world we must control our appetites and stop the short-term greed oriented decision making. We elected the officials with short-term vision (grab for all the rich bits as quickly as possible) and spurned the more long-term thinkers (e.g., Jimmy Carter & Al Gore). We chose as a Nation to outsource manufacturing excellence and we wasted our soft power. ![]() One very clear message from this and other books well worth reading (e.g., Chalmers Johnson's triology on US foreign policy - Blowback, Sorrows of Empire & Nemesis): Cultural decline is rarely forced upon a dominant culture rather it rots from within. Will chaos reign or will a true world government emerge? All is speculation but very good food for thought. What is not clear will be the structure and dominance of the multipolar world order. Probably the best discussion centers on a world in which the US is not "number 1." Who will claim the title? Russia? China? The European Union? India? What is clear is that regional powers will grow in strength. This decline was inevitable as other nations progress and prosper however, disastarous US foreign policy (read the invasion of Iraq) and our short-term, greed is good culture have only accelerated this trend. There are a number of specific examples on how we got to this condition (basically we have no one to blame but ourselves). The premise of the book is that we are experiencing the decline of the US as the supreme global power. The remainder of the book was worth the read. I found the first chapter or two a bit slow and not particularly good. Starobin's tone is sober but in the end hopeful-the world after America need not be a disaster for America, and it might even be liberating. Thought-provoking and well argued, After America serves as an urgent catalyst to discussing America's evolving role in a dramatically changing world. A concluding section of the book explores how California-the eighth largest economy in the world and demographically and technologically among the most sophisticated spots on the planet-is already starting to move beyond the American Century. ![]() Following an insightful analysis of America's global ascendancy, Starobin explores five possible scenarios for the future: an age of chaos like the one following the collapse of the Roman Empire a multipolar order of nations in which America would be one great power among others China becoming the dominant superpower an age of global city-states or a form of world government. The American Century has passed, argues Starobin, due in large part to America's military overreach in the Middle East resurgent nationalism and economic expansion in Russia, China, and India the tarnished American model of unfettered free-market capitalism and the growth of transnational cultural, political, and economic institutions. Moving beyond Fareed Zakaria's bestselling The Post-American World, veteran international correspondent Paul Starobin masterfully mixes fresh reportage with rigorous historical analysis to envision a world in which the United States is no longer the dominant superpower. ![]()
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