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Zbigniew Brzezinski

The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives Paperback – September 18, 1998

by Zbigniew Brzezinski (Author)

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The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives
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As the twentieth century draws to a close, the United States has emerged as the world's only superpower: no other nation possesses comparable military and economic power or has interests that bestride the globe. Yet the critical question facing America remains unanswered: What should be the nation's global strategy for maintaining its exceptional position in the world? Zbigniew Brzezinski tackles this question head-on in this incisive and pathbreaking book.The Grand Chessboard presents Brzezinski's bold and provocative geostrategic vision for American preeminence in the twenty-first century. Central to his analysis is the exercise of power on the Eurasian landmass, which is home to the greatest part of the globe's population, natural resources, and economic activity. Stretching from Portugal to the Bering Strait, from Lapland to Malaysia, Eurasia is the ”grand chessboard” on which America's supremacy will be ratified and challenged in the years to come. The task facing the United States, he argues, is to manage the conflicts and relationships in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East so that no rival superpower arises to threaten our interests or our well-being.The heart of The Grand Chessboard is Brzezinski's analysis of the four critical regions of Eurasia and of the stakes for America in each arena—Europe, Russia, Central Asia, and East Asia. The crucial fault lines may seem familiar, but the implosion of the Soviet Union has created new rivalries and new relationships, and Brzezinski maps out the strategic ramifications of the new geopolitical realities. He explains, for example: Why France and Germany will play pivotal geostrategic roles, whereas Britain and Japan will not. Why NATO expansion offers Russia the chance to undo the mistakes of the past, and why Russia cannot afford to toss this opportunity aside. Why the fate of Ukraine and Azerbaijan are so important to America. Why viewing China as a menace is likely to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Why America is not only the first truly global superpower but also the last—and what the implications are for America's legacy. Brzezinski's surprising and original conclusions often turn conventional wisdom on its head as he lays the groundwork for a new and compelling vision of America's vital interests. Once, again, Zbigniew Brzezinski provides our nation with a philosophical and practical guide for maintaining and managing our hard-won global power.

Print length

240 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Basic Books
Publication date

September 18, 1998
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.75 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

0465027261
ISBN-13

978-0465027262
Lexile measure

1550L
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Zbigniew Brzezinski, the National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter, is a counselor and trustee at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a professor of American foreign policy at the School of Advanced International Studies, the Johns Hopkins University, both located in Washington, D.C. His many books include The Choice and The Grand Chessboard. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; Later Printing Used edition (September 18, 1998)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0465027261
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0465027262
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1550L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.1 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.75 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #202,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #238 in Globalization & Politics
- #1,302 in History & Theory of Politics
- #2,203 in International & World Politics (Books)

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Brzezinski’s 1st ‘Bookend’: The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives

Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2017

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Two of the title key words are very important to this review: ‘American Primacy’.

When an author writes a book, especially one that is political and deals with foreign affairs, this book captures events as a snapshot in time. As authors write later books, sometimes their views change.

Chessboard has been on university Poli Sci and Foreign Affairs/ Diplomatic Studies book lists for academic use since it was published, meaning that people who needed to know about and shape our foreign policy for the last 20 years have been familiar with it and have used it.

Dr. Brzezinski ‘s very interesting book is loaded with maps and other graphics to illustrate the changes that would be made in the future (from the time that he wrote it) to many countries world-wide, some of which would benefit from these changes, while others would not.

One of the most prescient, cogent, and almost incredible aspects about this book is that most of what it says would occur in world events at the time that it was written has, in fact, eventually happened!

In many ways, this book seems to have been ‘the script’ for many US foreign policy advisers to have been following, and it is understandable that it was followed, given that Brzezinski was a member of the CFR, a founding member of the Trilateral Commission, a Bilderberger, and an adviser to Presidents and other people that shape global policy. He did this both professionally and as a university professor.

The average person has no idea that a book like this exists. Because of this, I have bought multiple copies and given them out to others to help them understand why our current events are happening - by means of both major political parties, in a seemingly long-term weaving back and forth, throughout different political administrations.

As such, this would be one of the main Poli Sci/ diplomatic studies books to buy, read, re-read, and discuss with friends who also have inquiring minds.

I recommend that readers also buy Brzezinski’s last book: Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power (2012), because it is the bookend to Chessboard. In fact, I often buy both and give them to friends to read, so that we can use our higher-order thinking and communication skills to have a discussion about what the author felt/ knew about the imperatives of the ‘American Primacy’ at the time that he wrote Chessboard in 1997. This should then allow us to compare his changed vision to what he says in Strategic Vision, only 15 years later.

This book (along with Strategic Vision) should be required reading to increase the Politics/ Foreign Affairs knowledge base for every inquiring mind, especially regarding the concept of ‘global order’ and how the US currently fits inside of this.

(Please see my other Brzezinski Amazon ‘bookend’review on Strategic Vision.)

15 people found this helpful

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Miffie

Mass Murderers Usually Warn Before They Strike

Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2018

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The politically brilliant Zbig passed away but his handiwork is evident in the Balkanization and occupation by U.S. "boots on the ground" that exactly match the lines he drew of the Middle East and Central Asia-- how much longer can "we" get away with this? Rome fell because it was overextended... the writing's been on the wall for some time now, and morale in the U.S. military is at an all-time low. Too bad Brzezinski didn't understand that the planet is not a monopoly board, people are not objects, war is not a silly little game and there is such as thing as the human heart.

6 people found this helpful

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Reese

No It is Not Organic

Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2014

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After you read this book, you should understand that on the world stage that not much in terms of world or local politics naturally occurs. It is preplanned with alternate plans then orchestrated towards the goal of an all controlling one world government as the end game.

There is no greater good. One human farm fights the other human farm controlled by the same farmers. First you have to get all the animals onto farms with different systems of control and then domesticate them properly by making them dependent on the farmers. Next, orchestrate fears, tensions, rivalry and hatred between the farms. Then let the games begin. Chess anyone? Have you figured out who the grand master is yet? All roads lead somewhere.

26 people found this helpful

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Valeria Puga

Estrategia de US al final de la Guerra Fría

Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2019

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Se puede o no estar de acuerdo con muchas de las afirmaciones del autor, pero es un libro importante para conocer el modo de razonar de los estrategas del establishment estadounidense al final de la Guerra Fría. Cómo piensan la cuestión del poder, su mirada sobre China, Rusia, Europa y Medio Oriente, etc y sobre todo cómo Estados Unidos puede sostener su “supremacía”, o imperialismo, mejor dicho.

2 people found this helpful

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Joanneva12a

The Grand Chessboard - Revisited

Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2004

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When the power elite write, you better pay special attention to the wording because for better or worse, most are damn brilliant and some possibly dangerous. All through the book I found myself being lulled into the author's vision of "utopia" where American dominance rules on a global scale, tenfold over what it is now, mainly through a system of homogenized regional powers which would extend its hold into the resource rich area of Eurasia and the Middle East. However, Brzezinski's grasp on the mindsets of nations is so staggering that one cannot help but be respectful of his writing per se, even if the book has all the trademarks as the blueprint for the New World Order.
The author is not shy about making his objective known but his wording is such that the reader's apprehensions are assuaged with new mottos skillfully interwoven into his keen insight. Convinced that without American global dominance, the world would decay into international anarchy, the former national security advisor and Trilateral member envisions an assimilation that combines the age old imperial doctrine of "divide, conquer, and rule" veiled with what he terms consolidation of "geopolitical pluralism" and tempered to produce what he envisions as "hegemony of a new type".
Brzezinski's rational, however charming as it may be presented, is flawed as he fails to take into consideration one vitally important and likely scenario. Namely, that future generations of government will always use that power wisely and for the global good. If one ignores the old adage "absolute power corrupts absolutely" then one miscalculates on a global scale
In the end however, no matter whether you agree or disagree with his ideas, the final result is a double-edged sword capable of producing polar results by however the wielding power sees fit. Nothing demonstrates this more dramatically than America's achievements with it's foothold in Japan and Europe after WWII, versus the completely counter productive blowback in Afghanistan where it was Brzezinski himself who convinced the Carter administration to secretly fund the Mujihadeen via the CIA.
That intervention who as now everyone knows produced both Osama and the mutated Taliban, betrayed the strategy behind the book's most quoted paragraph when he wrote:
"To put it in a terminology that harkens back to the more brutal age of ancient empires, the three grand imperatives of imperial geostrategy are to prevent collusion and maintain security dependence among the vassals, to keep tributaries pliant and protected, and to keep the barbarians from coming together."

21 people found this helpful

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Baba Jaga

This is NOT a poorly written book. But it is just awful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 8, 2021

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To me this book is no better than the notorious Mein Kampf by one other author. It is written by a person convinced by the superiority of his nation and its right to mess the world as they please. We see the disastrous consequences of this master plan all over the world and especially in Europe now. It seems that even by the end of his life he did not learn anything. One of the most infuential books of evil.

5 people found this helpful

jvm

Recommended by Peter Hitchens

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 13, 2020

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Great book on strategy. I bought this after Peter Hitchens recommend it in an interview. Be sure to read this if you want to gain a better understanding of geopolitics.

2 people found this helpful

Caomhin

Good read... 🙂

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 26, 2019

Verified Purchase

Enjoyable if you are interested in American global political strategy...

Leo

Very good book, with clear and straight forward idea and strategic vision,most of them we can see in today world.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 30, 2015

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Very good book, with clear and straight forward idea and strategic vision,most of them we can see in today world. However his visions are a little but contaminated by a "naive" consideration of american supremacy / mission and by a sense of "holy" destiny or unique role in history for the US. Summarising it is a "must to read", easy reading and clear but also in its mainstream ideologic.

One person found this helpful

PH

Many chapters seemed to be making the same assertions again ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 15, 2015

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Many chapters seemed to be making the same assertions again and again. The author could have got his message out in a book half the size, but guess he wanted the fluff it out a bit for commercial purposes.

One person found this helpful

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