In 1975, Emmanuel Todd predicted the decline and fall of the Soviet Union, drawing on research from cultural anthropology and demography as well as economics. At the time his findings challenged a conventional wisdom that saw in the Communist world a dynamic and growing challenge to the West. Generations of Kremlinologists may not have known much, but they knew that Todd was wrong - until 1989, that is, when conventional wisdom retired hurt. Now Todd returns to the debate on the future of international power relations with ...
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In 1975, Emmanuel Todd predicted the decline and fall of the Soviet Union, drawing on research from cultural anthropology and demography as well as economics. At the time his findings challenged a conventional wisdom that saw in the Communist world a dynamic and growing challenge to the West. Generations of Kremlinologists may not have known much, but they knew that Todd was wrong - until 1989, that is, when conventional wisdom retired hurt. Now Todd returns to the debate on the future of international power relations with another startling prediction. Far from being at the apogee of its power, the United States of America is now locked in the messy and disruptive logic of decline. Because the world has long relied on America as a source of stability, it is now desperately important for us to find a way to contain the shock waves from America's impending collapse as the sole superpower. This is not a book from an anti-American, and you will not find a smooth recitation of the standard arguments of Left or Right. It is that unfashionable thing - a determined and unembarrassed attempt to tell the truth.
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Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. This book is in good condition but will show signs of previous ownership. Please expect some creasing to the spine and/or minor damage to the cover.
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PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
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Good-Bumped and creased book with tears to the extremities, but not affecting the text block, may have remainder mark or previous owner's name-GOOD Standard-sized.
Easy lecture from a biased author. I consider the proposed scenaries as being fictional and biased. Otherwise the book triggers a signal about the upcoming changes in the american society.
JAC1
Apr 3, 2007
A mixed bag of insights and misguided predictions
The central thesis of the book is simple: the US is in decline as the hegemonic power. Like World System theorists, Todd makes much of the central role of finance and speculation in the American economy. The US is a debtor nation whose main function in the global economy is not to produce but to consume. Also he claims that the US is actually militarily weak, maintaining the upper hand in air power and surveillance technology but fundamentally fragile when it comes to its army and ground forces. This is illustrated by ?theatrical micromilitarism? or the big show made around the conquering of small and rather defenseless developing nations. The major strategic failure by the US in the post war period has been to not completely destroy the former Soviet Union as a military power and isolate it from Europe. US adventures in the Middle East have had quite the opposite effect of drawing Russia and Europe closer together in to what Todd sees as an emergent strategic counter balance to US economic and military power. The war on terror is a campaign to provoke chaos so as to maintain the necessity of American military presence around the globe.
Todd is optimistic about the egalitarian tendencies of a revitalized Russia. He connects this to traditional family structure and implies that it is through Russia that the world will be saved from an America out of balance and aggressive since the end of the Cold war.
In this reviewer's opinion, the book tends towards treating countries as single organisms that Todd places on his couch for psycho-analysis. While proving an interesting take on the notion of "hegemonic decline" and how that manifests in US foreign policy, Todd romanticizes Russia and overlooks its totalitarian tendencies that accompnay (and more likely dominate) any egalitarian ones.
