America and a Changed World
A Question of Leadership
Chatham House Papers
1. Edition April 2010
296 Pages, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
ISBN:
978-1-4051-9845-5
John Wiley & Sons
Looking at a range of themes and regions, this book provides a challenging basis for rethinking America's international leadership.
* Chatham House experts assess current US policy and the country's ability to continue to play an international leading role.
* A timely exploration as President Barack Obama attempts to renew America's global leadership.
* Broad range of contributors including Annette Bohr (Central Asia), Victor Bulmer-Thomas (Latin America), Alex Vines and Tom Cargill (Sub-Saharan Africa), Paul Cornish (Arms control), Paola Subacchi (Economics), Kerry Brown (China) and James Sherr (Russia).
Preface and acknowledgments vii
Notes on contributors ix
Introduction 1
Robin Niblett
Part I Deepening Regionalism and the US Response
1 Latin America: forging partnerships in a transformed region 15
Victor Bulmer-Thomas
2 The Middle East: changing from external arbiter to regional player 30
Claire Spencer
3 Sub-Saharan Africa: providing strategic vision or fire-fighting? 49
Alex Vines and Tom Cargill
4 East Asia: searching for consistency 71
John Swenson-Wright
5 South Asia: navigating minefields 89
Gareth Price
6 Central Asia: responding to the multi-vectoring game 109
Annette Bohr
7 The South Caucasus: drama on three stages 125
James Nixey
Part II Partners and Competitors
8 China: between global responsibilities and internal transitions 145
Kerry Brown
9 Russia: managing contradictions 162
James Sherr
10 Europe: transatlantic relations still drifting 185
Robin Niblett
Part III Global Challenges
11 International law and the United Nations: a new era of US engagement 205
Devika Hovell
12 Arms control tomorrow: the challenge of nuclear weapons in the twenty-first century 223
Paul Cornish
13 The United States and climate change: from process to action 238
Bernice Lee and Michael Grubb with Felix Preston and Benjamin Zala
14 The role of the US in the post-crisis economic order 258
Paola Subacchi
Index 275
Notes on contributors ix
Introduction 1
Robin Niblett
Part I Deepening Regionalism and the US Response
1 Latin America: forging partnerships in a transformed region 15
Victor Bulmer-Thomas
2 The Middle East: changing from external arbiter to regional player 30
Claire Spencer
3 Sub-Saharan Africa: providing strategic vision or fire-fighting? 49
Alex Vines and Tom Cargill
4 East Asia: searching for consistency 71
John Swenson-Wright
5 South Asia: navigating minefields 89
Gareth Price
6 Central Asia: responding to the multi-vectoring game 109
Annette Bohr
7 The South Caucasus: drama on three stages 125
James Nixey
Part II Partners and Competitors
8 China: between global responsibilities and internal transitions 145
Kerry Brown
9 Russia: managing contradictions 162
James Sherr
10 Europe: transatlantic relations still drifting 185
Robin Niblett
Part III Global Challenges
11 International law and the United Nations: a new era of US engagement 205
Devika Hovell
12 Arms control tomorrow: the challenge of nuclear weapons in the twenty-first century 223
Paul Cornish
13 The United States and climate change: from process to action 238
Bernice Lee and Michael Grubb with Felix Preston and Benjamin Zala
14 The role of the US in the post-crisis economic order 258
Paola Subacchi
Index 275
"Niblett manages to assemble a book that is surprisingly cohesive
despite its vast scope . . . the immediacy, though, gives the book
a journalistic quality." (The International Spectator, 2010)
'America and a Changed World speaks compellingly
to the necessity of an intelligent American foreign policy more
attuned to the realities of the twenty-first century.'
-
-- Zbigniew Brzezinski, Professor of American foreign
policy, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins
University and former National Security Advisor to President Jimmy
Carter
'At a time of great uncertainty about the future of US
global leadership, America and a Changed World offers a
series of timely and important insights into the scale of the
challenge facing the Obama administration. As such, the book will
serve as a very valuable reference point for students of US foreign
policy and policy practitioners alike.' -
-- Joschka Fischer, former Minister of Foreign Affairs
of Germany
'This wide-ranging collection of probing essays from
Chatham House explores the daunting obstacles to the reassertion of
American leadership in a changed world. The provisional answers it
suggests are as sobering as they are persuasive.'
-
-- Timothy Garton Ash, Professor of European Studies,
University of Oxford, and Isaiah Berlin Professorial Fellow, St
Antony's College, Oxford
'American leadership of the global order is unavoidable.
No other power can step into its shoes, yet. Yet while the world
cries out for American leadership, it also cries out for smarter
and more sophisticated leadership of a more complex world. This
book could not be more timely. It provides wise counsel where it is
needed most.' -
-- Kishore Mahbubani, Dean, Lee Kuan Yew School of
Public Policy, National University of Singapore
despite its vast scope . . . the immediacy, though, gives the book
a journalistic quality." (The International Spectator, 2010)
'America and a Changed World speaks compellingly
to the necessity of an intelligent American foreign policy more
attuned to the realities of the twenty-first century.'
-
-- Zbigniew Brzezinski, Professor of American foreign
policy, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins
University and former National Security Advisor to President Jimmy
Carter
'At a time of great uncertainty about the future of US
global leadership, America and a Changed World offers a
series of timely and important insights into the scale of the
challenge facing the Obama administration. As such, the book will
serve as a very valuable reference point for students of US foreign
policy and policy practitioners alike.' -
-- Joschka Fischer, former Minister of Foreign Affairs
of Germany
'This wide-ranging collection of probing essays from
Chatham House explores the daunting obstacles to the reassertion of
American leadership in a changed world. The provisional answers it
suggests are as sobering as they are persuasive.'
-
-- Timothy Garton Ash, Professor of European Studies,
University of Oxford, and Isaiah Berlin Professorial Fellow, St
Antony's College, Oxford
'American leadership of the global order is unavoidable.
No other power can step into its shoes, yet. Yet while the world
cries out for American leadership, it also cries out for smarter
and more sophisticated leadership of a more complex world. This
book could not be more timely. It provides wise counsel where it is
needed most.' -
-- Kishore Mahbubani, Dean, Lee Kuan Yew School of
Public Policy, National University of Singapore
Robin Niblett is the Director of Chatham House. He was previously Executive Vice President at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington from 2001 to 2006.