First published 2009
George Friedman examines America's strategic position as the dominant global power entering the 21st century. He argues that the United States does not need to win traditional wars to maintain supremacy. Instead, America's goal involves creating enough disruption and chaos among potential rivals to prevent them from accumulating sufficient power to pose genuine challenges. Friedman predicts that lesser powers will repeatedly attempt to form coalitions aimed at containing American behavior and military operations. The United States will respond with targeted military interventions designed to fragment these alliances before they can solidify. The author forecasts that the new century will witness more frequent conflicts than the previous one, but these wars will prove less catastrophic overall. Technological advances and the specific nature of emerging geopolitical challenges will limit the destructive scale of future conflicts. Friedman presents a world where American hegemony persists not through overwhelming victory but through calculated interference that keeps competitors perpetually off balance.
Genres: history, international-relations, political-science, non-fiction, 21st-century, current-affairs, academic, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: America, United States
Period: 21st Century
271 pages · Paperback · Het Spectrum