The third of Dyer’s bestselling series on the new world order.
Gwynne Dyer’s provocative argument in Fighting Decline is that, since 2001, American foreign and defence policies have been run by people whose entire approach is shaped by an idea of the United States now being the world’s sole superpower. The invasion of Iraq, Dyer argues, was as much a warning shot across the bows of potential rivals as it was a mission to oust Saddam Hussein.
But while the United States has been pouring countless billions into its war on Iraq and its subsequent attempt to impose democracy on a deeply divided nation, two Asian countries have quietly been developing enormous economic power. India and China are now both on the brink of rivalling American economic clout and political influence. It remains to be seen just how the United States will respond to this competition, but history, as Dyer shows, provides us with vivid lessons of how empires act when in decline. No paramount power, however skilled, has yet succeeded in stopping the process by which new powers grow to overshadow them, but they do seem condemned to try. Fighting Decline brings insight, intelligence, and Dyer’s trademark humour to bear on this, one of the biggest issues facing the world.
Gwynne Dyer’s provocative argument in Fighting Decline is that, since 2001, American foreign and defence policies have been run by people whose entire approach is shaped by an idea of the United States now being the world’s sole superpower. The invasion of Iraq, Dyer argues, was as much a warning shot across the bows of potential rivals as it was a mission to oust Saddam Hussein.
But while the United States has been pouring countless billions into its war on Iraq and its subsequent attempt to impose democracy on a deeply divided nation, two Asian countries have quietly been developing enormous economic power. India and China are now both on the brink of rivalling American economic clout and political influence. It remains to be seen just how the United States will respond to this competition, but history, as Dyer shows, provides us with vivid lessons of how empires act when in decline. No paramount power, however skilled, has yet succeeded in stopping the process by which new powers grow to overshadow them, but they do seem condemned to try. Fighting Decline brings insight, intelligence, and Dyer’s trademark humour to bear on this, one of the biggest issues facing the world.
