'The World America Made': Robert Kagan for the defense
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Robert Kagan: the United States is as strong as ever.
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'Anyone who tells you America is in decline ... doesn't know what they're talking about," proclaimed President Barack Obama in his 2012 State of the Union address. Robert Kagan, author of "The World America Made" and a foreign policy adviser to GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, agrees. Confounding the pundits, Mr. Obama made headlines by endorsing this book.
The president is right. In this accessible, thought-provoking and extraordinary (short) book, Mr. Kagan makes the case that the United States is as strong as ever: One-third of all the R&D in the world happens in the United States, one-quarter of the world's economy is America (with 6 percent of world population) and is increasing. Add the fact that the U.S. military is more powerful than the next dozen largest militaries combined and perhaps you have what former French Minister Hubert Vedrine called a "hyper power."
Knopf ($21)
Let's not get carried away, Mr. Kagan contends. We're also not in decline because we were never as powerful as nostalgic politicians, foreign-policy wonks and commentators would have you believe. In fact, Mr. Kagan maintains our status in the world is pretty much where it has always been -- still extraordinary -- which is to say the most important, positive influence on the world over the past 60 years. However, to appreciate Mr. Kagan's perspective, you have to understand his worldview.
A case could be made that all conflicts between nations happen because the world lacks an ordered and fair way for governments to resolve differences collectively. This view motivated both Woodrow Wilson to found the League of Nations after World War I and the Allies to form the League's progenitor, the United Nations, after World War II. The most violent and destructive century in all human history could have been avoided if the world worked this way.
First Published February 12, 2012 12:00 am
