| Abstract |
"A brilliant and visionary argument for America's role as an enforcer of peace and order throughout the world--and what is likely to happen if we withdraw and focus our attention inward. Recent years have brought deeply disturbing developments around the globe. American sentiment seems to be leaning increasingly toward withdrawal in the face of such disarray. In this powerful, urgent essay, Robert Kagan elucidates the reasons why American withdrawal or a selfish unilateralism would be the worst possible response, based on a fundamental and dangerous misreading of the world. Our belief in the inevitability of progress and the 'end of history' has been an illusion. The freedom, prosperity, and general peace the world has enjoyed for decades are threatened today by natural and eternal forces of human nature and the international system that, like a jungle, constantly seek to undermine and overwhelm all that we have accomplished. To preserve our way of life, we have to push back. Those who argue for accepting the world 'as it is' have no idea what that world really looks like: how dangerous things can get and how quickly they fall apart. They fundamentally misunderstand the essential role America has played for decades in keeping the world from returning to its violent and bloody past. A true realism, Kagan argues, means understanding that the historical norm has always been toward chaos--that the jungle will always grow back, if we let it."--Jacket. |
