From Empire to Community: A New Approach to International Relations

Amitai Etzioni

Macmillan, May 14, 2004 - Political Science - 258 pages

Whether one favors the U.S. global projection of force or is horrified by it, the question stands - where do we go from here? What ought to be the new global architecture? Amitai Etzioni follows a third way, drawing on both neoconservative and liberal ideas, in this bold new look at international relations. He argues that a "clash of civilizations" can be avoided and that the new world order need not look like America. Eastern values, including spirituality and moderate Islam, have a legitimate place in the evolving global public philosophy.
Nation-states, Etzioni argues, can no longer attend to rising transnational problems, from SARS to trade in sex slaves to cybercrime. Global civil society does help, but without some kind of global authority, transnational problems will overwhelm us. The building blocks of this new order can be found in the war against terrorism, multilateral attempts at deproliferation, humanitarian interventions and new supranational institutions (e.g., the governance of the Internet). Basic safety, human rights, and global social issues, such as environmental protection, are best solved cooperatively, and Etzioni explores ways of creating global authorities robust enough to handle these issues as he outlines the journey from "empire to community."

About the author

Amitai Etzioni is the founder and director of the Communitarian Network and University Professor at The George Washington University. He has served as a senior advisor to the White House and President of the American Sociological Association. He has taught sociology at Columbia University, the Harvard Business School, and the University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of 22 books, including The New Golden Rule, Political Unification Revisited and My Brother's Keeper: A Memoir and a Message. A recent study listed him as one of the leading hundred public intellectuals.

Bibliographic information

• Title: From Empire to Community: A New Approach to International Relations
• Author: Amitai Etzioni
• Edition: revised
• Publisher: Macmillan, 2004
• ISBN: 1403965358, 9781403965356
• Length: 258 pages
• Subjects: Political Science / Intergovernmental Organizations; Political Science / International Relations / Diplomacy; Political Science / International Relations / General; Political Science / Public Policy / Military Policy; Political Science / Security (National & International); Political Science / Terrorism