Fareed Zakaria: The Post-American World

Hardcover: 292 pages
Publisher: Allen Lane 2008

"I don't believe that war has become obsolete or any such foolishness. Human nature remains what it is and international politics what it is." p. 9-10

Fareed Zakaria could well be the next Henry Kissinger-like theorist-turned-practitioner in American foreign policy. Zakaria's robust academic work combined with his journalistic vision in seeing the relevant makes his ideas very attractive. Zakaria is very much a realist studying the overall distribution of power in the international system but he is also very much in sync with global cultural trends.

The Post-American World is a book about the eventual relative decline of the United States vis a vis the other great powers. Actually it is not so much a book about America as it is about the "rise of the rest". China and India will be the new trendsetter-players in a multipolar and economically highly interconnected international-political arena.

"Over the last fifteen years, the United States has placed sanctions on half the world's population. We are the only country in the world to issue annual report cards on every other country's behavior." p. 47

"Legitimacy is power. The United States has every kind of power in ample supply these days except one: legitimacy. In today's world, this is a critical deficiency." p. 247

"In an increasingly empowered and democratized world, in the long run, the battle of ideas is close to everything." p. 248

Check out: http://www.fareedzakaria.com/

Second Opinion: Michiko Kakutani / The New York Times

¶ 9/26/2008 10:50:00 ip.