After the Cold War: Essays on the Emerging World Order [Hardcover]

Keith Philip Lepor (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1997 | ISBN-10: 0292746938 | ISBN-13: 978-0292746930 | Edition: 1st University of Texas Press ed

The end of the Cold War between the United States and the former Soviet Union reassured people around the world who had lived in fear of a nuclear confrontation between the superpowers. Yet the early euphoria over "peace dividends" and a "new world order" was premature. Conflicts within and between nation-states are springing up around the globe, challenging world leaders and ordinary citizens to find peaceful means for national, group, and individual self-determination.

In this book of specially commissioned essays, twenty world leaders assess the possibilities and perils of the new strategic, political, and economic interrelationships that are emerging around the world. They tackle such fundamental questions as: What is the future of the international system as we approach the twenty-first century? What will be the fate of disintegrating nation-states, and how will the international community respond? Has the nation-state outlived its usefulness? Are we beginning to witness the complete breakdown of the international system?

The contributors are: Ali Alatas (Indonesia) Tariq Aziz (Iraq) James A. Baker III (United States) Benazir Bhutto (Pakistan) Boutros Boutros-Ghali (United Nations) Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Brazil) Osama El-Baz (Egypt) Eduardo Frei (Chile) Alberto Fujimori (Peru) Rachid Ghannouchi (eminent Islamic thinker) Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Russian Federation) Kamal Kharrazi (Iran) Andrei Kozyrev (Russian Federation) Leonid Kuchma (Ukraine) Nelson Mandela (South Africa) Nursultan Nazarbayev (Kazakhstan) Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria) Muammar El-Qadhafi (Libya) Fidel Ramos (Philippines) Shri P. V. Narasimha Rao (India)

Editorial Reviews

Review

In an ambitious attempt to characterize andunderstand the unprecedented changes in the post-Cold War global order, the editor has amazingly collected the perspectives of 20 notable (and busy) world leaders and diplomats. Contributors range from Mikhail Gorbachev (once president of the USSR) and former US Secretary of State James Baker to various Third World heads of state, including Fernando Cardoso (Brazil), Alberto Fujimori (Peru), and Muammar El-Qadhafi (Libya). . . . The selections transcend speechifying and mirror diverse cultural, national, and ideological worldviews. (Choice 19971001)

Review

This look at how many of the world's leaders view the developing 'world order' in the aftermath of the Cold War is both fascinating and disturbing. Those who believe that the 21st century may prove to be as unstable as the century we are about to leave will find much to support their pessimism. But they will find, as well, reason to hope that the wisest among us may be able to find a common path toward a more stable and productive future. One reality jumps from almost every page: without the active engagement of the United States in the decades ahead chaos is assured. (Lawrence S. Eagleburger )

Product Details

• Hardcover: 344 pages
• Publisher: University of Texas Press; 1st University of Texas Press ed edition (1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0292746938
• ISBN-13: 978-0292746930
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,607,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Emerging World Order? What order??!!, December 5, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: After the Cold War: Essays on the Emerging World Order (Hardcover)

Having just completed reading "After the Cold War - Essays on the Emerging World Order" by Keith Lepor, I am still wondering whether Emerging World Disorder would not have better reflected the contents of this very good book. I found it to be a fascinating and thought provoking book. Twenty world leaders from the different parts of the planet who are playing, or have recently played, significant roles in shaping our new world, each providing a unique observation angle. As may be expected, some of the essays are better written and are more insightful and exciting than others. However the variety in backgrounds, style, spice, and originality, results in a vary tasty dish indeed. Althogh the overall impression is of a pretty chaotic emerging world, I found myself quite optimistic regarding the perceived shape of things to come. In particular, many of the common themes that most of the leaders agree upon are related to intenational cooperation at a regional and global levels, restructuring parts of the UN, and the need to redefine the notion of Security to include all aspects of human existance. Overall, an excellent initiative by Mr. Lepor. Excellent (and probably unprecedented) job! What would I have done differently? Well, perhaps tried to twist the arm of an Israeli leader to provide an essay and thus counter the significant ( and in some cases somewhat extreme) Muslim contributions. Tariq Aziz, Benazir Bhutto, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Osama El-Baz, Rachid Ghannouchi, Kamal Kharrazi, and Muammar El-Qadhafi : 7 out of the 20 world leaders are Muslim - a shape of things to come? Also, I would have considered incorporating at the end of a book an essay by an known International-Relations expert, to reflects on, summarize, and analyse the content of the the leaders' essays. Who knows, perhaps the world would have then seem more "orderly" to me... I doubt it.