After Empire: The Birth of a Multipolar World

by Dilip Hiro

Overview

American corporations have to beg for capital from the cash-rich Sovereign Wealth Funds in the Persian Gulf. By invading Iraq, President George W. Bush grossly undermined American credibility in the international arena and irrevocably weakened Washington's diplomatic clout.

Together, these historic shifts have provided an opportunity for the world to move from the tutelage of the sole superpower, America, to a multi-polar global order, one where America's moral, economic, and military leadership will be profoundly challenged.

What form will this world resemble? What are the perils and promises of this new power order? In After Empire, Dilip Hiro provides a realistic, challenging, and nuanced look at the emerging power politics of the coming century and considers how they are going to turn our world upside-down.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781568586175
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	01/12/2010
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	360
File size:	704 KB

About the Author

Dilip Hiro is one of the world's leading experts on the Middle Eastern, Central and South Asian, and Islamic affairs. His thirty-four books include Inside India Today, The Timeline History of India, Inside Central Asia, and Apocalyptic Realm: Jihadists in South Asia. He contributes to the New York Times, Guardian, Observer, Nation, and Los Angeles Times as well as Salon, TomDispatch, and YaleGlobal. He is a commentator for CNN, the BBC and Al Jazeera English.

Table of Contents

Preface 1

1 Rise and Fall of the Bipolar World 13

2 America's Place in the Sun—Eclipsed by Wars and a Fiscal Meltdown 25

3 Return of the Russian Bear 87

4 Iran and Venezuela: Oil Fuels Defiance 117

5 China: The Peaceful Rise of a Giant 147

6 India Strives 181

7 The European Union, Work in Progress... 207

8 Democracy: One Size Doesn't Fit All 219

9 Soft Power Challenges to America 237

10 Future Flash Points 251

11 Conclusions 271

Epilogue 283

Notes 299

Select Bibliography 319

Index 321

Editorial Reviews

Economist
“Dilip Hiro writes from an unabashedly un-American point of view. It is arresting to see a familiar object assume an unfamiliar shape.”

Financial Times
“Typically, a Hiro book is a dispassionate chronicle that refuses to take sides, letting facts speak for themselves… His challenging, even contrarian account of it [a multipolar world] should be required reading not just for the British Foreign Office, but among foreign ministries more generally .

From the Publisher