Power on the Precipice: The Six Choices America Faces in a Turbulent World

by Andrew Imbrie

Overview

How to renew American leadership in a turbulent, polarized, and postdominant world
 
“A worthy contribution to the public debate on America’s role in the world and a tonic for our times.”—John Kerry, Former U.S. Secretary of State

“Imbrie mounts a well-informed examination of the country’s ills and offers a discerning perspective on its future paths . . . A thoughtful consideration of myriad challenges facing the U.S.” —Kirkus Reviews

Is America fated to decline as a great power? Can it recover? With absorbing insight and fresh perspective, foreign policy expert Andrew Imbrie provides a road map for bolstering American leadership in an era of turbulence abroad and deepening polarization at home. This is a book about choices: the tough policy trade-offs that political leaders need to make to reinvigorate American money, might, and clout. In the conventional telling, the United States is either destined for continued dominance or doomed to irreversible decline. Imbrie argues instead that the United States must adapt to changing global dynamics and compete more wisely. Drawing on the author’s own experience as an adviser to Secretary of State John Kerry, as well as on interviews and comparative studies of the rise and fall of nations, this book offers a sharp look at American statecraft and the United States’ place in the world today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300243505
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	09/08/2020
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Andrew Imbrie is a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology. He served as a speechwriter and advisor to Secretary of State John Kerry and as a professional staff member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1

1 A Post-dominant World 9

2 Core or Periphery? 27

3 Butter or Guns? 50

4 Allies or Autonomy? 82

5 Persuasion or Coercion? 109

6 People Power or Pinstripe Rule? 136

7 Open or Closed? 160

8 America's Way Forward 190

Notes 207

Index 247

Editorial Reviews

Imbrie mounts a well-informed examination of the country’s ills and offers a discerning perspective on its future paths . . . A thoughtful consideration of myriad challenges facing the U.S.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A worthy contribution to the public debate on America’s role in the world and a tonic for our times.”—John Kerry, Former U.S. Secretary of State

“A creative approach to addressing how America’s choices can either arrest or accelerate decline.”—Bruce Cronin, City College of New York

“Laced with vivid storytelling, insightful lessons of history, and his own experience on the front lines of U.S. diplomacy, Imbrie takes the reader on an uncomfortable but necessary journey through the difficult problems, places and policy choices facing our leaders. It's foreign policy 'tough love,' to be sure, but it's exactly what we need right now."—Rear Admiral John Kirby, USN (ret)

“An important book for our turbulent times. Imbrie shows how America has provided principled leadership in this world and points to ways we can be smart and visionary in the future. It is an elegantly written tribute to the promise of America and a call to action to reclaim that promise once again.”—Walter Isaacson, author of The Innovators and Leonardo da Vinci

“A refreshing counsel against despair, this book reminds us that American leadership—born of wise choices at home and abroad—can preserve a world that both advances American interests and protects the common good. It will be essential reading for the renewal of U.S. foreign policy going forward.”—Ashley J. Tellis, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

From the Publisher

2020-07-14
America must make crucial policy choices if it is to overcome significant problems.

Like many other recent political analysts, Imbrie—a senior fellow at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology and former speechwriter and adviser for John Kerry—sees America at a decisive crossroads. Drawing on abundant scholarship and citing authors including Fareed Zakaria, Paul Kennedy, Barry Posen, David Edelstein, and Kori Schake, among many others, Imbrie mounts a well-informed examination of the country’s ills and offers a discerning perspective on its future paths. “Widening income inequality and stagnant wages, declining social mobility and life expectancy, racial tensions, and environmental stress,” writes the author, “are creating new fissures and dampening optimism about the future.” Citing six historical examples of nations in crisis, from the Ottoman Empire in the 17th century to the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 20th century, Imbrie analyzes “how and why great powers decline, what policy decisions were most important in changing the pace or character of decline, and the conditions for successful strategies.” America faces a “post-dominant world,” he asserts, in which China, Russia, and other authoritarian states “will seek to modify today’s global system in ways that advantage them more than the United States,” forcing the U.S. to decide “whether it will fall into decline because of internal dysfunction.” Imbrie focuses on six areas of choice: where to employ military commitments, whether to invest in economic productivity or the military, how to assess the need for alliances, how to confront challengers, whether to promote “transparent, accountable institutions” rather than empower wealthy elites, and what role to take on the world stage in promoting democracy. The author’s advice is to “consolidate, adapt, and compete” by putting the drivers of productivity first—“R&D, science and technology, education, and infrastructure”—and by engaging in “robust diplomacy” rather than military interventions.

A thoughtful consideration of myriad challenges facing the U.S.

Kirkus Reviews