The Post-American World

Book Review 1

The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria

Review by Matthew Perez

Overview:

In The Post-American World, Fareed Zakaria explores the history and issues relating to the “rise of the rest.” He begins by describing the shift in the balance of power of the world, from one of American dominance to one of many countries sharing power. Zakaria provides the historical context of how the West and the United States rose to dominate the world and an explanation for the fear Americans have of the strength of other countries. He then goes on to explain how China and India’s unique situations have led to their current rise in power. The author concludes his book by drawing parallels between the fall of British Empire and the United States and what the United States can do to succeed despite the loss in power.

The Relevance of The Post-American World:

The Post-American World is extremely relevant to the modern world economy and the United States in particular. The book provides a detailed explanation of the current state of affairs and how the future world economy. Much of this will depend on the policies the United States takes in its dealing with other countries. The Post-American World is also relevant in that it provides an optimistic view of how the decline in American power. Through this book, Zakaria makes it clear that Americans should not be fearful of the “rise of the rest” since the United States will benefit from the rest’s success. In my opinion, this feeling of hope is the most important idea Zakaria professes, especially given our current recession.

Book Strengths:

Zakaria’s work succeeds on many fronts. The most obvious strength of this book is its easy to read nature. All of the chapters follow a clear, logical progression of ideas that reinforce Zakaria’s main ideas in an entertaining manner. Each chapter includes relevant examples that, while not entirely familiar to those without a background history, provide an interesting perspective on how much of the world’s current state is a result of actions taken and not taken by those in power. As a result, this piece of non-fiction reads more like a story.

Another strength of this book is the connections it provides from seemingly unrelated events. For example, Zakaria points out some seemingly random pieces of information to illustrate the point that the United States is no longer the leader in all things relating to consumption:

“The world's tallest building is in Taipei, and will soon be in Dubai. Its largest publicly traded company is in Beijing. Its biggest refinery is being constructed in India. Its largest passenger airplane is built in Europe. The largest investment fund on the planet is in Abu Dhabi; the biggest movie industry is Bollywood, not Hollywood. Once quintessentially American icons have been usurped by the natives.”

This example and others like it provide the reader with a perspective of the world that is not obvious.

Probably the greatest strength of The Post-American World is the solution it provides in the conclusion of the book. Although many non-fiction political books have conclusions that seem to stem from the author’s ideology, Zakaria seems rather neutral in his conclusion. His guidelines in the conclusion are balanced in opinion and logical in how agreeing with them will benefit the United States. Due to their clear-cut actions and logic, I feel they should be followed if the United States wishes to be successful in an era of equal powers.

Book Weaknesses:

Although my overall positive opinion of this book makes finding weaknesses a little difficult, there were still a few. One weakness I found in the book was the lack of evidence to support some of the generalizations Zakaria makes in reference to the opinions of people around the world in reference to the United States. He makes it seem as though most people around the world view us with frustration rather than anger. This seems like a reasonable conclusion but without any evidence to support it, the validity of this conclusion is dubious. Another weakness I found in the book its neglect of the short-term problems that occur during the transition from an American dominated world to one of equal powers. His guidelines provide a strategy to improve our diplomatic and economic relations with other countries but fail to address how to handle the short-term consequences that will occur at home. These include the issues of jobs leaving America and the widening monetary and education disparity between the wealthy and poor in this country. From an economic standpoint, it is better to view these issues in the long term but most policies in this country are made in the short-term. It would have been useful for Zakaria to include information on how to avoid this pitfall.

Recommendation and Closing Thoughts:

Despite a few weaknesses, I would greatly recommend The Post-American World to anyone with any interest in understanding the state of world affairs. The story-like flow of this book makes it an extremely enjoyable way of learning about the connections between politics, economics, and history. In fact, I will now read other books by Zakaria to see what other insights he provides into different political topics.