The Breaking of Nations: Order and Chaos in the Twenty-First Century (Hardcover)

by Robert Cooper (Author) "The year 1989 marks a break in European history..." (more)
Key Phrases: postmodern state, postmodern system, United States, Cold War, European Union (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Folks who like their global political analysis presented in snippy sound bite form can hurry along to the Carvilles and Coulters and find plenty of reading material. But for those who appreciate the complex tapestry of security issues and international affairs, Robert Cooper offers plenty to think about. The present-day world, posits Cooper, is divided into three types of nations: premodern (often third world and politically unstable), modern, and postmodern. While the present-day Europe Union exists as a postmodern model, with each country relying on others to facilitate prosperity, most other large nations, including, for the moment, the United States, are stuck in a merely modern capacity, still viewing foreign policy as essentially a way of keeping enemies at bay and maintaining the status quo. As terrorism grows more powerful and the "premodern" world more unstable, sophisticated weaponry becomes more readily available to terrorist organizations. It then falls t! o the enlightened "postmodern" countries to intervene militarily, taking a pre-emptive approach when necessary, to contain threats, root out bad guys, and defend the world. With this scenario in mind, Cooper urges EU members to increase their military capability to better measure up to the status and power of the American military forces. But as technology makes weapons of mass destruction more readily available around the planet, a more aggressive diplomatic strategy, Cooper says, is crucial to effectively dealing with the build up of weaponry and he presents five "maxims" to illustrate how such a diplomacy should be organized. While Cooper cogently presents his vision of where the world is and where the powerful nations need to take it, he also acknowledges the vagaries of a shifting world and as such presents The Breaking of Nations more as a rumination on complex issues than a ready-made solution. --John Moe

From Publishers Weekly
Cooper, a senior member of Tony Blair's cabinet, worries that the 21st century may wind up being the worst era in European history, as Western governments continue to lose control over the technology of mass destruction. Advocating "better politics rather than better technology" to combat the encroaching chaos created by unstable nation-states and rising terrorist organizations, he lays out a cogent argument for why the governments of Europe should present a united front and take an active role in promoting geopolitical stability, perhaps even through increased military presence. Only by pooling their resources, he suggests, can European nations offer a viable alternative to American policy mandates.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press (January 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871139138
• ISBN-13: 978-0871139139
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #716,602 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars European multilateralism and American unilateralism can meet, January 24, 2004

By	Gaetan Lion - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

As a result of 9/11 foreign policy is hot. The popularity of intelligent academic like books dedicated to the subject has soared. The American public seems finally to have caught up an insatiable thirst of knowledge for this esoteric subject. This is undeniably a very good thing. And, this book from Robert Cooper is an excellent tonic to quench this thirst for knowledge. Cooper is an excellent writer. His lively style renders his book easy to read. Also, he is so erudite on his subject matter that the amount of information and knowledge he shares within this relatively short book is truly remarkable.

The core of the book is based on two essays Cooper wrote several years ago. The first one "The Condition of the World" originally written in 1996 is somewhat the better structured of the two. It develops a powerful foreign policy model by grouping nations into three categories.

The first category consists of "pre-modern states." These are completely dysfunctional. They are typically broke, can't deliver any social services effectively, and the government's authority is often challenged by gangs, warlords, and other outlaws. Many African countries come to mind.

The second category consists of "modern states." These are you regular sovereign nations working perfectly well on most counts. This is Australia, Japan, Canada, you name it.

The third category consists of "post-modern states." This essentially describes the European Union, whereby a group of countries have agreed to relinquish some of their respective sovereign rights to a supranational political entity (EU) for the greater good of the respective community of countries. In Cooper's views this category is obviously the higher political life form. And, the other two "states" consist simply of sequential stepping stones towards this most evolved state. This is obviously a questionable assumption. Where Cooper sees the benefit of multilateralism, cooperation, free flowing trade within the EU. Someone else could just as well see excessive bureaucracy, an extra layer of government, analysis-paralysis devoid of any effective foreign policy, and a trading block that actually reduces trade opportunity within a truly freer trade framework (WTO). However, Cooper makes his case extremely well. He is a formidable debater and does make a convincing case for his political framework and the superiority of the EU post-modern states structure.

Cooper somehow struggles a bit with the hegemonic status of the U.S. He concedes that the U.S. stands "outside and above" the post-modern structure. He also accepts that the world does indeed benefit from the U.S. protection umbrella. Without a strong leader setting a set of rules and examples, the world could easily fall into chaos of competing power blocks vying for the top spot. Thus, Cooper unlike many authors on the subject, finds himself both espousing European multilateralism and the American unilateralism.

His second essay, encapsulated within this book, has a much different overtone. Its vision is a lot darker. It reflects on a world becoming more dangerous, more uncertain, less manageable. He believes humanitarian and military interventions in collapsing states will become maybe more frequent and more urgent. Counter-terrorism will become potentially a permanent endeavor. Government efforts to hunt down and grab WMD from the wrong hands will also be a long term effort. His second essay, in style and vision, resembles a lot the excellent books written on the same subject by Robert Kaplan (The Coming Anarchy comes to mind).

In the end, this book may raises more issues, questions, and concerns than it answers. I think there lies his great merit. Contrary to many other authors who seem to know best about something as liquid and complex as foreign policy, Cooper's humbler attitude is refreshing. He does not have the ready solution to all the world's problems. But, he sure diagnoses these problems very skillfully. He also asks the right questions and raises the correct concerns. Finally, he also suggests the rather radical idea that European multilateralism and American unilateralism can cohabitate the Western World. They don't have to compete with each other.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Diplomatic Realism, November 10, 2005

By	Retired Reader (Maryland) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Breaking of Nations: Order and Chaos in the Twenty-First Century (Paperback)

This is a somewhat deceptive book. It is quite short, just a 180 pages including notes and is very well written. This might cause some folks to dismiss it out of hand as yet another self-serving tome form a retired bureaucrat (all be it an English one). In point of fact the book is an intelligent and original look at the way the post Cold War world looks and works.
The author describes this world as divided between `pre-modern', `modern' and `post-modern' nation states. He postulates that the post-modern state actually is more trans-national than national, with a strong affinity for multi-lateral foreign relations, a transparent security system and a high tolerance for outside interference in its domestic affairs. This sounds pejorative, but it is not. In the author's view the post modern condition is exemplified by the nation states of the European Union (EU) and Japan and is the model for a stable and prosperous world order. Yet in a remarkably realistic assessment of the condition of the world, the author notes that the EU and Japan can enjoy their status as post-modern states only because the United States posses the most powerful military force in the world. He refers to the U.S. as a `modern' state with attributes that include a penchant for unilateral action, a closed security system, and no tolerance for outside interference in its domestic affairs. He sees the U.S. as providing the security that allows the post-modern states to flourish and grow. This insight, to this reviewer, is a very generous and realistic view of the role of the U.S. in world affairs. The book contains a host of other insights, ideas and practical advice for making the post-cold war world a place worth living. They certainly make the book worth reading.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chaos, the State, Europe and the US, September 27, 2004

By	J. Dretler (Tucson, AZ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"The Breaking Of Nations - Order And Chaos In The Twenty-First Century", by Robert Cooper is another of the currently popular books that tries to explain the historical sociological basis behind our international dilemma; the breakdown of the authority of the state and perhaps of authority in general.
Starting with the generally accepted view of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, and Weber, that civilization and order rests on the legitimate control of violence by the state, Cooper examines the problems the world is facing with many non-state actors who use or threaten force and the states that are unable to exercise control over their own territory and are no longer responsible for the behavior of their citizens. These are the states he calls pre-modern. He further defines the pre-modern state as a post-imperial or colonial chaotic association where there is no real sovereign authority. In some cases these are the result of the decline of imperialism. Today, the general opinion being, that the rewards of imperialism are small and the burdens large, especially with a population hostile to being `colonials'. The result is all too often chaos, which may give rise to a `defensive' imperialism where nations may seek to control other states to maintain their own safety. Defensive imperialism is the latest interpretation of what used to be called a `buffer state' or `cordon sanitaire', a protective border zone to protect `us' from `them' or to keep potentially hostile neighbors apart. Nations have traditionally been secular and organized along ethnic or group identities. Their legitimacy has been derived from below rather than imposed from above. This is different than an empire, where the government is usually imposed from above and there is a non-homogenaeity of population. Frequently empires have strong religious elements (Ottoman, Mogul, Russian Orthodox, Soviet-Scientific Socialism) but no common relevant identity. When empires break up, however, identity becomes relevant for the first time as the chaos of tribal or ethnic division emerges. All of these situations lead to the Wilsonian idea of a nation-state that is sovereign, more or less homogeneous, and defined by fixed and defended or at least defendable borders. This is the type of state organization that Cooper calls modern. In this modern world order, force is still the ultimate guarantor of peace. Cooper calls these states modern because they are linked to the idea of the nation-state created by the Treaty of Westphalia, which he considers the engine that created the modern world. Both the `realist' theories based on the calculation of national interests and the so-called balance of power, and the `idealist' theories based on collective security and world government are considered `modern' because of their reliance on force to maintain order. By this measure, both the U.N. and the U.S. would be considered `modern' since the former has the use of force as a means of enforcement written into its charter and the latter has used force as part of policy since its inception. `Modern' states, according to Cooper, can, if successful, become expansionist and create a new imperialism. Its success would depend on its demonstrated superiority to the existing liberal capitalist democracies of the West. If, on the other hand, `modern' states fail, devolution into a `pre-modern' failed-state chaos is likely. The solution, at least in European eyes, to all of the world's problems is the "post-modern" state. The post-modern state system doesn't rely on balance, sovereignty, or the separation of foreign and domestic affairs for its stability. The post-modern ideal emerged from the 1957 Treaty of Rome and the Treaty On Conventional Forces In Europe (CFE) and was the inspiration for the Organization For Security And Cooperation In Europe (OSCE). Its rules stress openness and transparency that are contrary to normal state behavior. For example, it is normal behavior to conceal ones strengths and weaknesses from potential adversaries; under the CFE Treaty force details are declared and challenge inspections are mandated. In the `post-modern' state rules are self-enforced and there is no need for a mechanism to compel the payment of fines. All of this sounds like Utopia, and in many ways it is. Although under `post-modernism' the object of foreign policy is peace and prosperity, rather than power and prestige, unfortunately most democratic institutions remain stubbornly national. The EU is trans-national rather than supra-national. Although some still dream of a European State, outside of the elites this is a very small minority. If the state is the problem, a super-state cannot be the solution. Cooper obviously favors the concept of postmodernism as he has defined it, but is skeptical to the point of contempt to those who think that the post-modern state has arrived as embodied in the EU. He says that the presence of US forces in Europe rather than those of NATO or the EU is responsible for the half-century of peace Europe has enjoyed. Those forces enabled Germany to maintain much lower force levels at lower cost than would have been possible otherwise. The German `Wirtschaftswunder' was subsidized by the American taxpayer. He says that the US is the only nation in the world with an independent strategy. According to Cooper the rest of the world reacts to, fears, lives under the protection of, envies, resents, plots against, and depends on America. As the most powerful country, the US has less reason to accept the idea of security based on mutual vulnerability that is the basis of the post-modern state (see Robert Kagan "Of Paradise And Power"). In his view, every country would choose to be invulnerable if it were possible, but only the US is. He says the US is not imperial (Niall Ferguson "Colossus" disagrees and says the US should accept its imperial role), but is hegemonic. The US wants to rule, but only in order to promote democracy in a neo-conservative Wilsonian convergence that drives a foreign policy to make the world safe for America (see Walter Russell Mead "Terror, Power, War, and Peace). All of this said, he, like Mead and Ferguson, seems to favor a benevolent American hegemony, rather than the `association of the weak' offered by the EU at the present. He says that a balance of power produces instability rather than stability and hegemony produces resentment, but it would be irresponsible to allow even one more nation to acquire WMDs. This, he thinks, is an issue of such importance for the whole civilized world that the imperative of security must defeat rational argument and negotiated solutions. Longer-term he hopes voluntary reform (as in Turkey) and the extension of the system of cooperative empire (the EU) will result. He posits that real change in foreign policy only comes from change in domestic policy and that is related to national identity and national purpose which is in conflict with post-modernism. Cooper identifies this modern/post-modern EU versus US conflict as derivative from the differing attitudes towards nationalism in Europe and America. While European nationalism is tied to ethnicity and has been weakening (he doesn't mention the anti-nationalist sentiment resulting from the nationalist excesses of WWI and II), American nationalism is tied to the concept of national identity engendered by the US Constitution. There is no corresponding European identity, at least not yet, in his opinion. He calls for the creation of a European military force that trains together and has interoperable equipment, a force that would give some responsibility to Europe. He agrees with Kagan, that the inability to respond with force, leaves only one choice, the choice of weakness, which is inaction. He ends the book, with a quote from George W. Bush at the American Enterprise Institute: " We meet here during a crucial period in the history...of the civilized world. Part of that history was written by others, the rest will be written by us." Cooper comments that if that `us' is to include Europe, they will need more power, both military power and multilateral legitimacy. This book adds another serious voice to those of Ferguson ("Colossus"), Fukuyama ("State-Building"), Huntington ("The Clash Of Civilizations And The New World Order" and "Who Are We?), Kagan ("Of Paradise And Power"), Walter Russell Mead ("Terror, Power, War, and Peace"), and Nye ("Soft Power") in the discussion of the emerging world order. I recommend it.