The Choice: Global Domination or Global Leadership [Hardcover]

Zbigniew Brzezinski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2, 2004

The overwhelming reality of our time is this: In the opening years of the 21st century, the United States finds itself not only the most powerful nation on earth but the most powerful nation that has ever existed. Given the contradictory roles America plays in the world, we are fated to be the catalyst for either a new global community or for global chaos. If we don't lead, Zbigniew Brzezinski contends, rather than merely dominate by force, we could face worldwide hostility much like the regional hostility now confronting Israel.Brzezinski argues for a more complex and sophisticated view of our global role than much of our media and political leadership are willing to entertain. We are the world's policeman, but we have to be seen as a fair one. We are entitled to a higher level of security than other nations (because we assume greater risks), but we are also the proponent of essential freedoms. We are uniquely powerful, but our homeland is uniquely -and chronically-vulnerable. "Globalization" precludes immunity for even the most powerful. This is an impressively lucid assessment, informed by decades of experience on the front lines of foreign policy, of where we stand in the world and where we should go from here.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Brzezinski, President Carter's national security adviser and the author of The Grand Chessboard, has written a perceptive overview of the disorienting new strategic challenges America faces. Though couched in the sober, nuanced language of policymaking, the book amounts to a point-by-point rebuttal of the Bush doctrine. Brzezinski criticizes what he casts as the administration's rejection of a binding alliance system in favor of ad hoc coalitions, its advocacy of preemptive war, and its refusal to address terrorism's root causes. The underlying problem, says Brzezinski, is turmoil in the "Greater Balkans," the largely Muslim southern rim of central Eurasia. While not ruling out unilateral action by America, Brzezinski believes the ultimate solution to the region's problems involves the slow expansion of the trans-Atlantic zone of prosperity and cooperative institutions. Al-Qaeda's brand of Islamic fundamentalism is in decline, he says, but "Islamist populism," its more pragmatic relation, could cause localized instability. To promote a modernizing impulse in the Muslim world, Brzezinski recommends engagement with Iran, peacemaking in the Middle East and Kashmir, and a regional nuclear nonproliferation pact. In his survey of other security threats, Brzezinski says that as China's economy grows and Japan drifts toward remilitarization, America should help build an equivalent to NATO for the Pacific. Brzezinski warns that globalization's reputation as disruptive, undemocratic and unfair could provoke a virulent anti-American ideology. To avoid becoming a "garrison state," America must establish a "co-optive hegemony," leading a "global community of shared interests." This book makes an exemplary argument for the proposition that idealistic internationalism is "the common-sense dictate of hard-nosed realism."
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From Booklist

This latest of high-concept books on global politics by Jimmy Carter's national security advisor will obtain peak attention in foreign policy and media circles as Brzezinski's pronouncement on American strategy in a war-on-terror world. His perspective extends out about two decades, a generation-long span that is not coincidental to the author's framing theme: how current foreign youths perceptions of the U.S. will redound fundamentally upon this country's security. An underlying "dialectic," Brzezinski argues, will affect that perception: U.S. government international policies tend to uphold stability, while the global influence of American society and culture is profoundly, seductively disruptive. On the proposition that resentment of American culture finds expression in criticism of U.S. policies, Brzezinski proposes approaches to allay anti-American hostility. They flow out of his articulate survey of attitudes in Europe, the "global Balkans" (as he denotes southern Asia), Russia, China, and Japan. For those disconcerted by current events, Brzezinski's proposals represent an alternative to George W. Bush's weltanshauung. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 242 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; First Edition edition (March 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465008003
• ISBN-13: 978-0465008001
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #294,594 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hopeful yet incomplete, October 5, 2004

By 

Payam "Payamiam" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Choice: Global Domination or Global Leadership (Hardcover)

Brzezinski has written a good, sober admonition for the Bush Administration, yet this book lacks critical macro-economic perspective. He does not delve enough into the stakes that oil and natural gas pose in the Middle East, and the bottom-line US/UK imperatives behind the current war. He also does not touch upon the dangers facing the global dollar standard, especially in light of America's massive national debt (at 3 times GDP) and trade/account deficits. These factors are inter-related and cannot be ignored in weighing why the US is at war in the Mid-East. They are also critical factors to consider when discussing incentives behind the EU and Asia viably alligning with the U.S., let alone the Mid-East calming itself with regard to America's presence in the Mid-East.

However, considering the author's pedigree and *seemingly* independent status as observer of current world affairs (Trilateral Commission and Council of Foreign Relations membership notwithstanding), this tome is a welcome change from the myopic, hawkish strategy coming out of the Executive Branch and its league of academic supporters. For instance, the author's consistent guidance to American strategists on how best to proceed with Iran is invaluably measured, researched and prudent. His treatment of globalization as a potentially divisive phenomenon, as well as valiant mention of the increasingly intrusive effects of various ethnic interest groups/PACs in American foreign policy considerations, provide important perspectives for American readers who may very well not see the collection of said perspectives from any other mainstream American political analyst.

I would also recommend "After the Empire" by Emmanuel Todd, "The Sorrows of Empire" by Chalmers Johnson and "The Dollar Crisis" by Richard Duncan for a complete picture of what is truly at stake for the United States in this day and age. Said books help put Brzezinksi's suggestions into the proper context.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A strategy to contain the global Balkans, August 27, 2004

By 

N. Tsafos (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Choice: Global Domination or Global Leadership (Hardcover)

Zbigniew Brzezinski identifies the geopolitical Achilles' heel of the twenty-first century in an area he designates as the global Balkans-a geographical "swathe of Eurasia between Europe and the Far East," encompassing primarily the Middle East and Central Asia. "The Choice" is Mr. Brzezinski's analysis of the global Balkans coupled with his argument about what America's strategy should be in dealing with that unstable region.

Much of the argument runs on familiar territory, though Mr. Brzezinski's restatement is clear, concise, and comprehensive; but his analytical talents are employed mainly to support his central thesis in favor of a multilateral American foreign policy, rather than to offer new insights as to the nature or causes of instability in the global Balkans.

Broadly speaking, Mr. Brzezinski calls for strengthened alliances, preferably institutionalized, to contain the global Balkans. This strategy, Mr. Brzezinski maintains, has the added benefit of addressing both the sources of global instability as well as the potential power struggles in Europe and East Asia. His geopolitical mind runs much farther than the global Balkans and onto the future of the transatlantic partnership and the rise of China.

Although, Mr. Brzezinski tries to address contemporary debates, it is clear that his thinking looks much more into the future, into the potential geopolitical developments of this century. As a strategic vision, "The Choice" has the attractions of looking far ahead, while remaining well-tuned to the realities of the day.

At the same time, the book suffers from its brevity and scope-it is not rare for the reader to demand more depth and precision. Still, as a contribution to the broad strategic debate on the balance between leadership and domination, "The Choice" offers penetrating insights that policymakers can ignore only at their peril.

93 of 120 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars world domination (Bush) or global leadership (Kerry)?, March 7, 2004

By 

R. Hutchinson "autonomeus" (a world ruled by fossil fuels and fossil minds) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Choice: Global Domination or Global Leadership (Hardcover)

"Our choice is between dominating the world and leading it." That is how Zbigniew Brzezinski sees it, and it seems to me that the same choice applies to this November's election. ZB doesn't say so in so many words, but his new book is quite critical of the Bush Administration's foreign policy. Brzezinski was Carter's National Security Advisor, but I'm not sure if he is still a Democrat -- in any event, he has always been a hawk on foreign policy.

You can always count on Brzezinski for the use of good old-fashioned realist, geostrategic analysis to produce a coherent strategic vision. (Personally I reject the U.S. imperial role on principle, but if wishes were horses... ZB, as a practicing Machiavellian, knows that the Empire is never referred to as an Empire.) He says the principal challenge to American power over at least the next two decades can only come from within as there is no such power or conceivable combination of powers externally (a sober rejoinder to the more outlandish fears of Terrorist Evil). The challenge from within could take the form of either A) a repudiation of power, ie a turn to isolationism, or B) the misuse of power. Repudiation could come from either liberals or conservatives, while the misuse is most likely to come from the unilateralist tendencies of conservatives -- witness the current Bush Administration.

Brzezinski sees the main threat in the world, with the collapse of the old USSR, as "turmoil," or as he put it in an earlier book title, "chaos." This turmoil is not evenly distributed throughout the world, but rather concentrated in the Middle East and Central Asia -- ZB calls this region "The Global Balkans" to indicate its instability and frequency of wars. For the U.S., the "pacification and cooperative organization" of the region is the top strategic priority for the next several decades. He notes in the most fantastic understatement in the book that this area of strategic priority just happens to be where most of the world's oil and natural gas is located! (The U.S. Armed Forces should be renamed The Oil Police.)

Obviously the U.S. cannot accomplish this alone. Thus allies must be identified, created, and cultivated. ZB sees Europe as absolutely necessary for this, and unlike Kagan does not dismiss the Europeans' concerns. In fact he sees that it is the U.S. that must accomodate the Europeans in order to come to a more even-handed approach to finally settling the Israel-Palestine conflict with a workable two-state solution. Iran is another case where ZB sees an advantage for the U.S. to move toward Europe in forging a joint approach aimed at moderating Iran, which could again play a key role in stabilizing instead of destabilizing the region. ZB sees terrorism and WMD as symptoms, not causes, and that what is needed is a concerted, long-term plan, not a series of bombing runs.

"Leadership entails a sense of direction that mobilizes others." With this, Brzezinski challenges the Bush Administration's arrogance toward the rest of the world. He sees that the threat of "turmoil" requires "confronting complexity," and says that "[t]he political education of a large democracy cannot be pursued by patriotic slogans, fear-mongering, or self-righteous arrogance." Unfortunately it looks like that's what we've got for another four years, and if all the intelligent analysts are purged from the CIA it will be even worse. Talk about IMPERIAL HUBRIS...