The Decline of American PowerThe internationally renowned theorist contends that the sun is setting on the American empire in this “lucid, informed, and insightful” account (The New York Times). The United States currently finds itself [a] superpower that lacks true power, a world leader nobody follows and few respect, and a nation drifting dangerously amidst a global chaos it cannot control. The United States in decline? Its admirers and detractors alike claim the opposite: America is now in a position of unprecedented global supremacy. But in fact, Immanuel Wallerstein argues, a more nuanced evaluation of recent history reveals that America has been fading as a global power since the end of the Vietnam War, and its response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 looks certain to hasten that decline. In this provocative collection, the visionary originator of world-systems analysis and the most innovative social scientist of his generation turns a practiced analytical eye to the turbulent beginnings of the twenty-first century. Touching on globalization, Islam, racism, democracy, intellectuals, and the state of the left wing, Wallerstein upends conventional wisdom to produce a clear-eyed—and troubling—assessment of the crumbling international order. “[Wallerstein’s thought] provides a new framework for the subject of European history . . . it is compelling, a new explanation, a new classification, indeed a revolutionary one, of received knowledge and current thought.” —Fernand Braudel |
Contents
A LongTerm Trajectory of | |
Our Albatross | |
Islam the West and the World | |
Who Are We? Who Are the Others? | |
Rhetoric or Reality? | |
ValueNeutrality in Question | |
The Twin Towers | |
Theory and Praxis Once Again | |
An Age of Transition | |
What Does It Mean to Be | |
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Geopolitical Cleavages of the TwentyFirst | |
AFTERWORDS | |
PERMISSIONS | |
Other editions - View all
The Decline of American Power: The U.S. in a Chaotic World Immanuel Wallerstein Limited preview - 2003 |
The Decline of American Power: The U.S. in a Chaotic World Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein No preview available - 2003 |
Common terms and phrases
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