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Like other recent publications, this book investigates the power shift away from American global supremacy. The author searches for successor countries, but he finds none. Looking at four different scenarios - the dual authority of America and China, or a Cold War between these two, or a Concert of Nations after the pattern of that of the monarchies of the 19th century, or a World of Regions - he concludes only the fourth choice, the World of Regions, is realistic. Here, different groups of countries gather around regional leaders and they compete one against each other quite possibly with mutual hostility, while global cooperation would be absent. In that setting, no worldwide unity would be available to tackle our numerous and necessary global tasks such as climate control, overpopulation, keeping peace on land and in cyberspace, food and water scarcity, and several others. What would America's fate be in such a leaderless world? Choosing an optimistic stance, he envisions how this country could in the end still emerge as an "indispensable nation", provided - taking recourse to America's traditional strength, ingenuity, and adaptability - it takes a number of corrective steps. Among these are avoiding wars, reducing excessive defense spending, correcting the out-of-control financial system as well as a political system that seems broken beyond repair, reducing national debt, improving primary and secondary education, dealing with our deteriorating infrastructure, and a few more. Bremmer says, a leaderless "G-Zero" world would be unstable. A new era would certainly follow in which this country with some luck might still play a decisive role. Thus, EVERY NATION FOR ITSELF provides an informative look into the future and it is in various respects in agreement with similar recent publications.
However, in this book as in others that look into humanity's uncertain future, I miss the option of a global federation. It has been investigated for decades and its basic principles are well-known. It is feasible and would be curative of the disastrous blunders mankind has inflicted upon itself during recent generations. It would be a safeguard against most of the future threats listed in this book. It would be the obvious, next step forward in the evolution of human civilization. In fact, the history of civilization is impatiently knocking on the door, yet - you tell me why - world federalism is on nobody's agenda.
- Paperback: 240 pages
- Publisher: Portfolio; Reprint edition (April 30, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 159184620X
- ISBN-13: 978-1591846208
- Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.3 inches
- Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
- Customer Reviews: 53 customer reviews
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#699,940 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1130 in Political Economy
- #595 in Government Management
- #1051 in International Economics (Books)
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