The Frugal Superpower: America's Global Leadership in a Cash-Strapped Era [Hardcover]

Michael Mandelbaum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 10, 2010

In this incisive new book, Michael Mandelbaum argues that the era marked by an expansive American foreign policy is coming to an end. During the seven decades from the U.S. entry into World War II in 1941 to the present, economic constraints rarely limited what the United States did in the world. Now that will change. The country's soaring deficits, fueled by the huge costs of the financial crash and of its entitlement programs—Social Security and Medicare—will compel a more modest American international presence.

In assessing the consequences of this new, less expensive foreign policy, Mandelbaum, one of America's leading foreign policy experts, describes the policies the United States will have to discontinue, assesses the potential threats from China, Russia, and Iran, and recommends a new policy, centered on a reduction in the nation's dependence on foreign oil, which can do for America and the world in the twenty-first century what the containment of the Soviet Union did in the twentieth.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The Observer (UK)</I>, August 8, 2010
“Cool and concise… It isn't often that you see foreign policy, healthcare and pensions discussed in the same breath, but it makes you sit up when you do.”

Financial Times, August 8, 2010

“Mr Mandelbaum has been preaching the gospel of petrol taxes for a long time, and does so persuasively… The author is always reasonable and clear.”

 

Sunday Times (UK), August 8, 2010

“Mandelbaum is persuasive in defining the structural problems of the American economy, and the consequences.”

 

Basil & Spice, August 17, 2010
“Mandelbaum writes in... clear, easy-to-comprehend prose. I recommend The Frugal Superpower without reservation and I hope that President Barack Obama and his Cabinet and advisors and Congress will follow the sensible policies advocated by its author.”

 

Pajamas Media, August 13, 2010

“My friend Michael Mandelbaum has a new book out this month with the timely title and theme The Frugal Superpower. It’s also short, as if Michael were reminding us this is not a good moment to overspend on excess paper in our cash-strapped world. As an advocate of the short book in general (with some obvious exceptions), I call that a win-win.”

 

Thomas Friedman, The New York Times, September 4, 2010

“Very timely”

Harvard Magazine

“It’s easy to be powerful (if not loved) when rich. But what happens when the chief guarantor of world security becomes less so? The author, of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, sees a more modest U.S. profile, and less imported oil.”

 

Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, December 13, 2010
“In explaining the connection between recent domestic policy developments and U.S. foreign policy, the author provides an uncomplicated foundation for understanding the direct line between politics and economics.”

 

Washington Diplomat, February, 2011
“The book, released in August 2010, is timely not only because of lingering uncertainties surrounding the supposed economic recovery, but also because of the underlying, long-term issues it addresses. Mandelbaum makes a strong, clear case that America’s unrestrained foreign policy will crack under the weight of crippling deficits — fueled by the huge costs of the financial crash and the nation’s entitlement programs.”
 

Modern Judaism, February, 2011

“An excellent…account of a country whose historic poverty, exacerbated by the Vietnam War, remains remarkably unchanged.”

Vingtieme Siecle, January 20, 2011

“This concise and elegant history of ‘Commentary’ is a good introduction for those looking to understand the influence and role of the monthly in the intellectual wars of the post-WWII United States.”

 

Domestic Fuel, February 15, 2011

“This book offers the best case I have ever seen that oil is a major risk to American security and presents it in a way that a true politician, worried about foreign relations, cannot deny why our country needs to move to renewable energy.”

CHOICE, April 2011

“Mandelbaum presents a solid argument for a third strategy in ‘a cash-strapped era’--to reduce US oil consumption by imposing a gasoline tax…Highly recommended.”

About the Author

Michael Mandelbaum is the Christian A. Herter Professor of American Foreign Policy; Director of the American Foreign Policy Program at Johns Hopkins, SAIS. He is a former faculty member at Harvard University, Columbia University and the U.S. Naval Academy; his Ph.D. in political science came from Harvard University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs; First Edition edition (August 10, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158648916X
• ISBN-13: 978-1586489168
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #850,139 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Mandelbaum is the Christian A. Herter Professor of American Foreign Policy at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. and is the director of the American Foreign Policy Program there. He has also held teaching posts at Harvard and Columbia Universities, and at the United States Naval Academy.

His most recent book, written with co-author Thomas L. Friedman, is THAT USED TO BE US: HOW AMERICA FELL BEHIND IN THE WORLD IT INVENTED AND HOW WE CAN COME BACK. Its publication date is September 5, 2011.

He serves on the board of advisors of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a Washington-based organization sponsoring research and public discussion on American policy toward the Middle East.

A graduate of Yale College, Professor Mandelbaum earned his Master's degree at King's College, Cambridge University and his doctorate at Harvard University.

Professor Mandelbaum is the author or co-author of numerous articles and of 13 books: That Used To Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back (2011) with co-author Thomas L. Friedman; The Frugal Superpower: America's Global Leadership in a Cash-Strapped Era (2010); Democracy's Good Name: The Rise and Risks of the World's Most Popular Form of Government (2007); The Case For Goliath: How America Acts As The World's Government in the Twenty-first Century (2006); The Meaning of Sports: Why Americans Watch Baseball, Football and Basketball and What They See When They Do (2004); The Ideas That Conquered the World: Peace, Democracy and Free Markets in the Twenty-First Century (2002); The Dawn of Peace in Europe (1996); The Fate of Nations: The Search for National Security in the 19th and 20th Centuries (1988); The Global Rivals, (co-author, 1988); Reagan and Gorbachev (co-author, 1987); The Nuclear Future (1983); The Nuclear Revolution: International Politics Before and After Hiroshima (1981); and The Nuclear Question: The United States and Nuclear Weapons, 1946-1976 (1979). He is also the editor of twelve books.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars America's decline is beyond entitlement overstretch December 22, 2010

By Hussain Abdul-Hussain

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

The Frugal Superpower argues that because of an "entitlement overstretch," America will not be able to conduct a foreign policy with unlimited funds, like in the past. Instead, the United States will have to become more selective in its overseas operations.

In this easy-to-read entertaining book of political economy, Mandelbaum skillfully sketches the most probable scenario, post-American superpower. Before doing so, he traces the modern history of the American power.
Mandelbaum argues that the Cold War forced America to construct a network with world reach to counter Soviet power. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, the US did not scale back its power and rather maintained its expensive and powerful reach.

The author also argues that the globally unmatched American excess power might have lured America's presidents, Clinton and Bush, and made them commit foreign policy errors. He writes that after the Cold War, America fought more wars than it had during the Cold War. While the last of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq showed America's unmatched military superiority, these two wars - coupled with incompetent post war planning and occupation - are still taking their toll on the nation's finances and world standing.

Mandelbaum writes about an inevitable American spending overstretch that will force Washington to make hard choices. To meet the expenses of the entitlements of its aging and retiring population, the United States will most probably cut expenditures in other areas, mainly overseas.

While America's inevitable economic hardships are a valid point, Mandelbaum's reasons might not be enough to explain them. True the "entitlement overstretch" will burden the US economy. However, even without these entitlements, America's economy has been suffering. Numbers in the summer of 2010 showed that the cost of every dollar the federal government borrowed was 46 cents. Servicing the debt is expected to further shoot up if Congress fails to find solutions to reverse the course of the country's finances.

Servicing the debt, a negative balance of trade, overreliance on imported energy and a shrinking manufacturing base, in addition to the "entitlement overstretch," have all been contributing to weakening America's economy. Mandelbaum erroneously leaves out the other economic spoilers and blames the retirement of the baby boomers alone for the expected economic ills and eventual superpower decline.

Mandelbaum rightly believes that the government has four options to collect money, and thus fund its domestic and foreign policies. These options are printing dollars, raising taxes, cutting expenditures and borrowing. Printing dollars causes inflation and might force nations that hold US debt (such as China with $2 trillion) to consider dumping an inflated dollar as the world currency. Raising taxes is politically unpopular in Washington.

Therefore, the US government is left with two choices, borrowing or cutting expenditures. Since the election of President Ronald Reagan in 1980, the government has been borrowing money to the extent that in 2010, national debt had reached $13 trillion. But Borrowing is unsustainable, and Washington will be forced to stop borrowing and start paying back debt, sooner or later.

With printing money, raising taxes and borrowing unavailable, Uncle Sam will be forced to cut expenditures. Such a step, according to the book, will cause fundamental changes in world affairs and America's role.

To further support his thesis that America will find herself unable to foot its world bill (protecting sea lines, international trade and energy sources), Mandelbaum writes that America's closest allies, especially those who benefit from Washington's role as a "world government," have never stepped up in the past to pick up the bill.
With American finances strained and allies unable to pay the difference, America's superpower will stand frugal.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Simplistic November 17, 2010

By Robert S Rosemurgy

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

The economic and military power of the United States will diminish due to less consumption of market products and less available spending, primarily because of other demands, like Medicare, Social Security and other priorities. To the author, this is not a good result. He argues that the US properly acted as the world's policeman since the end of WWII, but that it can no longer afford to do so. He states, in general terms, that the US did so out of the best and most altruistic of motives, and generally ignores the covert activities of the CIA and US in Central and South America and elsewhere, as well as Vietnam and other major involvements that involved one consideration, the perceived interest of the US. There is no reference to the possibility that being unable to undertake the long wars of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan will be beneficial to both the US and the world. There is no explanation of why Japan, South Korea, Germany, Spain and other countries can not maintain their own defense and protect their own interests. He suggests that the world will miss our dominance and provision of "governance to the rest of the world." The "blunder" of Iraq was the execution of our occupation, not the "preventative" invasion itself. He is critical of the growing intolerance for state building, such as in Afghanistan. His analogy to the Peltzman Effect is bizarre. He notes a lesser US may require more cooperation among allies, presumably missing the unilateralism W used for Iraq. His strongest point is that the US could stabilize the Middle East by non-military action, simply by raising its fuel tax to reduce consumption. This, he argues, would reduce the power of Iran and help stabilize the area. Imagine, the US can still lead and influence matters by diplomacy and other non-military actions. Certainly there is enough waste, fraud and duplication in our defense budget to effect substantial reductions without jeopardizing our security. Would 1,000 nuclear bombs be less secure than 5,000; or 2,000 fighter planes be less secure than 4,000? We have the first largest air force (the Air Force) and second largest (Navy) in the world. We spend more on defense (offense?) than the rest of the world combined. For better analysis and discussion read Bacevich's "The Limits of Power," and "Washington Rules," and Pfaff's "The Irony of Manifest Destiny."

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wise Book August 11, 2010

By Allis Radosh

Format:Hardcover

Once I started reading The Frugal Superpower, I couldn't put it down. Written simply and elegantly, Michael Mandelbaum takes on the crucial question-what will America's role in the world be in an era of diminishing resources? It portends to be a more dangerous world and all of our "friends" may be less than happy when they don't have America to complain about. They may even have to pay for their own defense! The author has some interesting solutions. Anyone interested in the future of the world as we know it should definitely read this book.