Cover image for A world in disarray : American foreign policy and the crisis of the old order
A world in disarray : American foreign policy and the crisis of the old order
Title:
A world in disarray : American foreign policy and the crisis of the old order
ISBN:
9780399562365
Physical Description:
xii, 339 pages ; 22 cm
Contents:
From war through world war -- Cold War -- The other order -- The post-Cold War world -- A global gap -- Regional realities -- Pieces of process -- What is to be done? -- Thwarting Thucydides -- World order 2.0 -- Regional responses -- A country in disarray.
Summary:
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold. The rules, policies, and institutions that have guided the world since World War II have largely run their course. Respect for sovereignty alone cannot uphold order in an age defined by global challenges from terrorism and the spread of nuclear weapons to climate change and cyberspace. Meanwhile, great-power rivalry is returning. Weak states pose problems just as confounding as strong ones. The United States remains the world's strongest country, but American foreign policy has at times made matters worse, both by what the United States has done and by what it has failed to do. The Middle East is in chaos, Asia is threatened by China's rise and a reckless North Korea, and Europe, for decades the world's most stable region, is now anything but. Dr. Richard Haass, President of the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations, explains how the election of Donald Trump and the unexpected vote for Brexit signals that many in modern democracies reject important aspects of globalization, including borders open to trade and immigrants. Haass argues for an updated global operating system -- call it World Order 2.0 -- that reflects the reality that power is widely distributed and that borders count for less. One critical element of this adjustment will be adopting a new approach to sovereignty, one that embraces its obligations and responsibilities as well as its rights and protections. Haass also details how the United States should act towards China and Russia, as well as in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. He suggests, too, what the country should do to address its dysfunctional politics, mounting debt, and the lack of agreement on the nature of its relationship with the world.
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