Clark, Sean and Sabrina Hoque (eds.):
Debating a Post-American World: What Lies Ahead?
(London: Routledge, 2011, 288 p.; ISBN-10: 0415690552; ISBN-13: 978-0415690553, p. 135-141; available: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415690553/); capítulo Paulo Roberto de Almeida: “Attraction and Repulsion: Brazil and the American world”
(ver: http://www.pralmeida.org/01Livros/2FramesBooks/PostAmericanWorld.html)
foi objeto de uma entrevista num blog canadense dedicado aos estudos internacionais, como me informa um dos organizadores, em comunicação pessoal, que reproduzo abaixo:
From: Sabrina Hoque <shoque@xxxxx.xx>
Subject:
Promoting
'What Lies Ahead'
Date:
21 de janeiro
de 2012 07:40:39 GMT+00:00
To: Paulo
Roberto de Almeida
Cc: sean.clark@xxxxx.xx
Good
morning Dr. Almeida,
Published
in the UK on December 7, I'm happy to tell you that our book, 'What Lies
Ahead', is now also available in North America. Sean and I hope you
successfully received your complimentary contributor's copy, as those were
mailed out from the UK in mid-December (though it may have been delayed by the
holiday mail crush). If you haven't received a copy of a book by January 27,
please do let us know and we will follow up with the publishers.
In
addition to the steps Routledge is taking, Sean and I have also been busy
promoting and marketing our book. Here are a few updates:
-
Copies of our book have been sent out to several journals who are interested in
writing a review: International Journal, Canadian Foreign Policy Journal,
International Affairs, Canadian Journal of Political Science, and The Diplomat
(online journal).
-
There will be a book launch at Dalhousie's 7th Annual Political Science
Graduate Student Symposium (March 2012), with our books available for purchase.
The symposium is regularly attended by graduate students from across North
America, faculty, members of the Canadian International Council, and the
broader public community. The theme of this year's symposium is: "Rise of
the Rest: Opportunities and Implications".
-
Sean and I were recently interviewed by Verkko.ca (a Canadian online network for International
Affairs)
The
interview is available at: http://www.verkko.ca/members/blog_view.asp?id=640691&post=136880
At
this stage, we welcome any further suggestions or recommendations you may have
on how we may do more to market the book.
Lastly,
Sean and I will both be attending ISA in San Diego this year (April 2012).
Please let us know if you will be attending as well, as it would be great to
meet up and perhaps enjoy a celebratory drink together!
Should
you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at shoque@dal.ca. I look forward to continued
correspondence with you, and hope to see you at ISA.
Sincerely,
Sabrina
Hoque
PhD
Candidate of International Relations
Doctoral
Fellow, Centre for Foreign Policy Studies
Dalhousie
University
Debating
a Post-American World: What Lies Ahead (Routledge, 2011)
Just
Published: http://www.routledge.com/9780415690553
|
50 Scholars Debate Post-American World in Newly Released Book
|
|
Posted By verkko.ca, January-10-12
|
Two PhD candidates in
International Relations at the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies at Dalhousie
University, Sean Clark and Sabrina Hoque have edited a newly released book
called Debating a Post-American World What Lies
Ahead? Verkko
recently sat down with the two to talk about this project.
|
1) Tell us about your publication and how
this project came about?
Fareed Zakaria's
argument regarding the Post-American
World garnered a lot
of scholarly attention, engaging with the debate on the US' role in world
politics, and whether its position was indeed shifting with respect to rising
powers. As editors, we aimed to bridge the gap between theory and current world
events by bringing together academic and policy experts who offer their
perspectives on the debate.
This assumption
provides another key reason why the "post-American world” was chosen as
the central topic for discussion. One of the chief purposes of this book has
been to provide students with an extensive overview of the current debate
surrounding the prospects for a "Post-American world". It has been
our experience that students are eager to consider and discuss the potential
for a truly massive shift in the international distribution of power. As
graduate students ourselves, we know how important it is to be able to analyze
global events with a theoretical lens. The topic therefore offers a unique
opportunity to combine theory and practice in one setting. Indeed, this book
illustrates how knowledge is best advanced when the two are considered in
tandem. Above all, we hope we to communicate the fact that today’s students
will graduate into a world fraught with much tragedy and peril – but also
tremendous promise.
2) Why do you feel this publication is
particularly relevant today?
For
all the tension and dangers of the Cold War era, the international system
remained relatively stable. The postwar decades had a degree of predictability
to them: the Soviet’s had their sphere and we in the West had ours. Each
attended to their own backyard in relative peace, and certainly faced no
challenger outside this nuclear dyad. This left Europe and Japan to rapidly
rebuild from the ashes of World War II, joining North America in an unrivaled
period of prosperity. Even living standards in the Soviet empire, propelled by
harsh, Stalinist industrialization, grew at a modest but predictable rate. Much
of the rest of the world, however, stayed poor. Latin America tipped into
autocracy and hyperinflation. Asia languished under repressive dictators like Mao
and Kim Il-Sung, with massive famine following megalomania. In sub-Saharan
Africa, average life expectancy in the postwar period actually declined. In
short, those who were rich and powerful in 1945 generally found themselves in
the same enviable position when the millennium came to an end.
In
contrast, the world of today is far more dynamic. A modern-day foreign investor
in Africa is just as likely to be Chinese, Turkish, or Indian in origin than
British or American. Some estimates project that China’s economy, at least when
measured in purchasing power parity, will overtake that of the United States
before the decade is out. Indian firms like Tata and ArcelorMittal are lean and
hungry and unafraid of battling with the traditional, Western behemoths of General
Electric and General Motors. Brazil, in a sharp contradiction to neo-Marxist
expectations, now imports aircraft components from wealthy Europe and America,
exporting back finished products in return. Over the past decade, six of the
world’s ten fastest-growing countries were found in Africa. Even if the decline
of the West has been over-stated, the political and economic relationship
between the global North and South has never been so competitive.
Given
this remarkable tumult, we see no better time to examine what implications
these changes might bring. Change is coming fast and furiously, and we think
both scholars and students will be interested in an analysis of where and how
their world is going to be affected.
3)
Who are some of the key contributors to your book?
To
our good fortune, we were able to solicit think-pieces from over 50
contributors. Given the range of topics addressed in our book, you can imagine
that each of our contributors brings their own unique and key perspective to
the debate. Indeed, this is one of the appeals of our edited volume - students
are able to connect, compare, and contrast individual scholars with theory and
current events. We also put together an innovative panel at the recent 2010
Annual convention in Montreal, hosted by the International Studies Association.
Our panel, consisting of a selection of our contributors: Joseph Nye, William
Wohlforth, Mark Brawley, Tim Shaw, William R. Thompson, Ronald Tammen,
Christopher Layne, and Thomas Fues, debated the prospects of a Post-American
world and was received with wide enthusiasm, with over a 100 conference
participants in attendance.
4)
What are some of the key issues addressed in your book?
Our
book is divided into five parts, with international relations scholars and
policy experts exploring and discussing a wide range of topics. The edited
volume is an effort to frame the debate regarding the question of ‘what lies
ahead’. First and foremost is to ask if we are destined for, to use Fareed
Zakaria’s term, a "post-American world.” In other words, will America
retain a leading role in world affairs, or will its slippage mirror the fallen
titans of ages past? To achieve the former, some very large hurdles will have
to be overcome. In Part I, we conduct a realist-type evaluation of future power
trends. These dynamics are examined not only from the perspective of the United
States, but also from that of the "risers and the rest.” Part III enters
into a more specific discussion regarding the course and conduct of wars to
come, including the future of nuclear weapons, arms control, and "liberal
wars in the age of risk.” Part IV looks more to the liberal concerns of laws
and institutions, and how they might fare in a world absent of American
hegemony. Lastly, Part V touches upon issues often overlooked by mainstream
scholarship: energy and the environment. The post-American world may, after
all, end up being dark and hungry.
5)
In your opinion, what are the main challenges to Canada and the rest of the
world caused by a transition from American dominance to the rise of alternative
powers?
A
post-American world is one ripe with opportunity for countries like Canada, but
one that is also fraught with dangers we cannot control. As a resource
exporter, the rapid industrialization of the Global South provides a tremendous
boon to the Canadian economy. The ever-longer queue for Canadian iron, oil,
beef, and timber has already meant a fortuitous partial de-coupling of Canada
from the United States economy, sparing Canadians the steep recession that
America continues to find itself mired in. Wealthy societies make for good
customers and, as we have learned with the recent Keystone XL debacle, it never
hurts to have alternative clients waiting in the wings.
This
rosy take relies, of course, on the assumption that the present,
Washington-centric world order can continue to mollify the rising South’s
political and economic ambitions. If not, the growth of these new powers may
bring sustained international confrontation. We have already seen rumblings by
China and others that the present set of multilateral institutions are not up
to the task. Public communiqués, for example, assert China’s intentions of a
"peaceful rise”—yet this image fits uncomfortably alongside the elaborate
military parades of the People’s Republic's Diamond Jubilee of October 1, 2009.
Guns, pride, and fear can make for a potent mix. Indeed, there is always the
possibility that, like in 1914, a changing international economic balance could
really lead things awry. To this prospect, policymakers of countries both large
and small must remain constantly vigilant.
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