Superpower: Three Choices for America's Role in the World
Written by Ian Bremmer
Narrated by Willis Sparks
4/5
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About this audiobook
America will remain the world's only superpower for the foreseeable future. But what sort of superpower? What role should America play in the world? What role do you want America to play?
Ian Bremmer argues that Washington's directionless foreign policy has become prohibitively expensive and increasingly dangerous. Since the end of the Cold War, U.S. policymakers have stumbled from crisis to crisis in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria, and Ukraine without a clear strategy. Ordinary Americans too often base their foreign policy choices on allegiance or opposition to the party in power. We can no longer afford this complacency, especially now that both parties are deeply divided about America's role in the world. The next presidential election could easily pit an interventionist Democrat against an isolationist Republican-or the exact opposite.
As 2016 rapidly approaches, Bremmer urges every American to think more deeply about what sort of country America should be and how it should use its superpower status. He explores three options:
Independent America asserts that it's time for America to declare independence from the responsibility to solve other people's problems. Instead, Americans should lead by example-in part, by investing in the country's vast untapped potential.
Moneyball America acknowledges that Washington can't meet every international challenge. With a clear-eyed assessment of U.S. strengths and limitations, we must look beyond empty arguments over exceptionalism and American values. The priorities must be to focus on opportunities and to defend U.S. interests where they're threatened.
Indispensable America argues that only America can defend the values on which global stability increasingly depends. In today's interdependent, hyperconnected world, a turn inward would undermine America's own security and prosperity. We will never live in a stable world while others are denied their most basic freedoms--from China to Russia to the Middle East and beyond.
There are sound arguments for and against each of these choices, but we must choose. Washington can no longer improvise a foreign policy without a lasting commitment to a coherent strategy.
As Bremmer notes, "When I began writing this book, I didn't know which of these three choices I would favor. It's easy to be swayed by pundits and politicians with a story to sell or an ax to grind. My attempt to make the most honest and forceful case I could make for each of these three arguments helped me understand what I believe and why I believe it. I hope it will do the same for you. I don't ask you to agree with me. I ask only that you choose."
Ian Bremmer
Ian Bremmer is president and founder of Eurasia Group, the world’s leading global research and consulting firm, and GZERO Media, a company dedicated to providing intelligent and engaging coverage of international affairs. Ian is also a frequent guest on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, the BBC, Bloomberg, and many other television stations around the world. Ian has published ten books, including the New York Times bestseller Us vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism which examines the rise of populism across the world. He also serves as the foreign affairs columnist and editor at large for Time magazine. He currently teaches at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and previously was a professor at New York University.
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Reviews for Superpower
18 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Superpower: Three Choices for America's Role in the World by Ian Bremmer, an astute and intelligent political scientist and observer, if possibly manic, has written an important book on strategic choices America must make. The book is a little textbook-y and I tired of the analogy to Moneyball, the book by Michael Lewis about the Seattle baseball team. A book that by the way was fantastic. Bremmer thinks Obama's foreign policy has been a failure which should not be surprising since he entered the White House with no foreign policy experience and doesn't seem to have supplemented it with outstanding advisors. Bremmer is arrogantly certain the Mrs. Hillary, grossly negligent Clinton will be our next president. I can't recommend this book wholeheartedly but I am glad I read it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great book, I would love of more of the ideas presented here were part of the upcoming election's discussions.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wish I read it when I was at uni- loved it's insights- do the quiz! But you need to get to the end to see his Ian's answers. The geopolitical environment is getting vastly more unstable and Ian spells out Americas 3 main choices of what type of role and influence it can take in its current and future involvement.
Ian says countries may not like America but still buy its real estate and currency - a safe haven. And the next American president needs to address this.
From Jonny Tornado.