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The Return of History and the End of Dreams
Robert Kagan
This rigorously original book, from the bestselling author of Paradise and Power, argues that liberal democratic states and autocratic countries are currently on a collision course.
Hopes for a new peaceful international order after the end of the Cold War have been dashed by sobering realities. Great powers are once again competing for influence. International competition between the United States, Russia, China, Europe, Japan, India, and Iran raises new threats of regional conflict. The expectation that after the Cold War the world had entered an era of international convergence has proved wrong. We have entered an age of divergence.
In his new book, The Return of History and the End of Dreams, Robert Kagan masterfully poses the questions facing the liberal democratic world today. For the past few years, the liberal world has been internally divided and distracted by issues both profound and petty. But now History has returned, and the peoples of the liberal world need to choose whether they want to shape it – or let others shape it for them.
'Subtle and deep... Kagan’s argument is that the short period after the end of the cold war when it was said that ideological conflict was over and that liberal democracy had prevailed was a delusion; we are now, he says, back in a world of clashing national ambitions and interests, one more akin to the 19th century than to the 1990s.' Economist
'In this important, timely, and superbly-written book, Robert Kagan shows that the "end of history" was an illusion. Today's global challenges pose a stern test for the world’s democracies. This book is a wake-up call and should be read by policymakers, politicians, pundits and all who want a guide to the dangerous waters of 21st-century geopolitics.' Senator John McCain
'Robert Kagan gives us a picture of the world today in all its complexity and its simplicity. This is a world where America is dominant but cannot dominate, where the struggle for power and prestige goes on as it always has. Power is at the service of ideas, but the key ideas are also ideas about power: democracy and autocracy. All this in a hundred pages, with style, energy and panache.' Robert Cooper, author The Breaking of Nations
'An eloquent, powerful, disturbing, but ultimately hopeful view of the emerging balance of power in the world – and America's proper role in it. Kagan's views will be an essential part of the debate that will shape our next president’s foreign policy.' Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
About the author
Robert Kagan served in the State Department from 1984 to 1998. He is the author of the international bestseller Paradise & Power and is the senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He lives in Brussels with his wife and two children.
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Hardback
Published May 2008
128 pages
ISBN: 978 1 84354 811 9
RRP: £12.99