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The Return of History and the End of Dreams | 
 enlarge | Author: Robert Kagan
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 1386
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 128
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.4 x 0.7
ISBN: 030726923X
Dewey Decimal Number: 909.82
EAN: 9780307269232
ASIN: 030726923X
Publication Date: April 29, 2008
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Product Description
Hopes for a new peaceful international order after the end of the Cold War have been dashed by sobering realities: Great powers are once again competing for honor and influence. Nation-states remain as strong as ever, as do the old, explosive forces of ambitious nationalism. The world remains “unipolar,” but international competition among the United States, Russia, China, Europe, Japan, India, and Iran raise new threats of regional conflict. Communism is dead, but a new contest between western liberalism and the great eastern autocracies of Russia and China has reinjected ideology into geopolitics. Finally, radical Islamists are waging a violent struggle against the modern secular cultures and powers that, in their view, have dominated, penetrated, and polluted their Islamic world. The grand expectation that after the Cold War the world would enter an era of international geopolitical convergence has proven wrong.
For the past few years, the liberal world has been internally divided and distracted by issues both profound and petty. Now, in The Return of History and the End of Dreams, Robert Kagan masterfully poses the most important questions facing the liberal democratic countries, challenging them to choose whether they want to shape history or let others shape it for them.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 Endgame for "war on terror" and now we have to look for the next Kaiser who will challenge the world peace! June 25, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I found the central argument of this book very convincing. Forget your fears about the terrible Islamic threat to the modern world and start looking to the old 19th century power games that now repeat themselves between great states. Al Qaeda shot its bolt after all and its war is already a thing of the past. Kagan argues that the world is not divided by religion or race as Samuel Huntingdon's "clash of civilizations" theory suggests and the modern trouble with Islam/West seems to vindicate. Rather he argues the real division in modern geopolitics is between democracies and autocracies, with places like the USA, Europe and Japan on one side, and countries like China, Russia and Iran on the other. As he explicitly states in the book, "But in today's world, a nation's form of government, not its `civilization' or its geographic location, maybe the best predictor of its geopolitical alignment". For example, China and Japan may have a shared Asian culture, but one is a democracy and the other is an autocracy, therefore, Japan will have more in common with another democracy, even if it is not culturally similar, that it will with China. He argues that the autocracies are dangerous, not just because of their oppressive internal policies, but because they typically are experiencing rapid economic growth. This allows them to fund a more powerful and threatening military with which to threaten democracies. Kagan acknowledges that one autocracy can have friction with another autocracy: for example, Russia and China may distrust each other over their mutual ambitions in Siberia. Kagan's book supports my view that a great war between major powers is not a too distant possibility and that "Fourth Generation" warfare is as old as man and does not substitute or, even more, erase the old kind of warfare between massive conventional armies. Thus, the USAF leadership may have been right when it planned for new, extremely expensive stealth jets. Although accused for accute "next-waritis" by the current DoD head, may be proved in the future that it was perfectly right in its long view.
Concise, highly readable world view update June 18, 2008
Not just for students of this genre; High school, college students and book clubs would enjoy and certainly benefit by reading Kagan's updated world view perspective. The world's democracies must comprehend the revival and enrichment of powerful autocracies particularly in Russia and China. Voters and policy makers in the US and the World's democracies would do well to consider his ideas for solution approaches.
Good Perspective and Concise Style June 16, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I found this book quite interesting and easy to read - though I got through and was left wishing for more. The book makes a virtue of being concise and covers quite a lot of ground in a very short space, but I did nevertheless feel that a slightly longer book would have been justified by the material and would have allowed for some greater depth.
Particularly interesting were the points about the evolving political environment and the developing tensions in certain parts of the world and around several key issues. Kagan writes persuasively and has some interesting insights to offer. Worth reading for an interesting take on the world of today.
geopolitics concise and clear June 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A great overview of geopolitics for someone without a great deal of time to devote to the subject. Kagan makes his points clearly and concisely. An excellent little book.
Modern Geopolitics June 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is quite short and can be read quickly. One can certainly get a brief look at modern geopolitics by reading The Return of History, End of Dreams. However, because it is so short (about 100 pages), Kagan tends to paint with a broad brush. To me, this was the biggest weakness of the book. For example, he makes broad statements about a given nation's desires and tendencies but offers relatively few specific examples to support his claims. I would have rather the book been closer to 200 pages and contained more information. That being said, I found the book to be very enjoyable and quite informative. Kagan's basic argument is that nationalism and jockeying for geopolitical power did not die with the Cold War. He talks about the various ties (economic and ideological) that have emerged in recent years between the democracies of the world (US, Europe, Japan, India, etc.) and the autocracies of the world (Russia, China, Iran, etc.). Another major point that he tries to make in the book is that the world WILL be shaped by those with the ability and the will to shape it. He ends the book with a short series of suggestions as to how to move forward in today's geopolitical landscape. I would definitely recommend this book.
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