The Choice: Global Domination or Global Leadership

Abstract

American power and a pervasive globalization are the central realities of today's world, and the source of its thorniest dilemmas. Yet while America's unprecedented might should be the source of global security, Americans today feel less secure than ever. Globalization promotes American dominance even as it breeds anti-American resentment. In The Choice, former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski addresses the historic choice facing America at this very moment: Will it strive to dominate the world, or lead it? Reminding us that American dominance should not be confused with omnipotence, Brzezinski shows how America's well-being and the world's are entwined, and that America must find a way to be both guarantor of global security and promoter of the global common good.When it comes to what might be called the 'philosophy' of foreign policy-the relationship of U.S. power and policy to broader historical and cultural trends-no statesman of Brzezinski's generation is in his league...A tour d'horizon of U.S. foreign policy [that] discusses the inevitable contradictions and tensions that enmesh a democratic society that is also a global hegemon, criticizes the Bush administration, and articulates his own vision of the way forward-all in a little over 200 pages. Even those who do not accept Brzezinski's critique of the Bush administration will admire the sagacity of his views; for Democrats attempting to assemble a serious and thoughtful alternative to Bush's foreign policy, The Choice is indispensable.-Walter Russell Mead, Foreign Affairs

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