Michael Mandelbaum

How does the United States use its enormous power in the world? According to the author, the United States furnishes to other countries the services that governments provide within the countries they govern. He describes the contributions that American power makes to global security and prosperity, the shortcomings of American foreign policy, and how other countries have come to accept, resent, and exert influence on America's global role. And he assesses the prospects for the continuation of this role, which depends most importantly on whether the American public is willing to pay for it.

Summary:The current, if uneasy, harmony that exists among the great powers was fostered by the collapse of communism as a militant ideology, by the emergence of economics as a primary emphasis of governments, by nuclear weapons, which made war exceedingly dangerous, and by the spread of democracy. Democratic great powers favor the tranquility of the post-Cold War era and they are unlikely to seek dramatic change. One development that could change the status quo is European political unity, which would almost inevitably exclude Russia; however, such unity is unlikely in the near term. Russia and China, the great powers that are not fully or irrevocably democracies, are the great post-Cold War question marks. Political uncertainty and the continuing vibrancy of nationalism, combined with irredentist claims, mean that the need to rally political support at home can lead to assertive international rhetoric and action. Conflicts within and between peripheral states are the source of most turbulence in today's world. Most of these conflicts have little real importance to the great powers. However, nuclear proliferation among peripheral states is a source of instability the great powers cannot overlook. -OCLC

With the end of the Cold War, Europe is more united and freer from the danger of a major war than at any time in modern history. A historically unprecedented and highly desirable European security order is in place. The Dawn of Peace in Europe describes this new "common security order," assesses the alternatives to it, and analyzes the conditions necessary for its continuation. The Dawn of Peace in Europe emphasizes the inescapable truth that the future of this new order depends on Russia and the United States. Mandelbaum assesses how the wrenching transition taking place within Russia might affect its policies toward the arms treaties and toward its neighbors. Finally, he evaluates the durability of the American commitment to an active role in Europe.

In The Strategic Quadrangle five experts on East Asia explore the new shape of power among the major players in the region - Russia, China, Japan, and the United States. The authors examine the web of alliances, historical rivalries, and conflicting worldviews that define the relations among these four powers and analyze how the interactions among them will affect East Asia and the international system as a whole. Robert Legvold, surveying the sweeping changes that have taken place in Russia and the rest of the former Soviet Union, contends that genuine integration into East Asia requires the kind of economic changes that have just begun in Russia and will take years to complete. David Lampton, in his chapter on China, examines the Chinese leadership's policy of military detente and economic cooperation with the other three powers in order to sustain the remarkable economic performance of the last two decades. In his chapter on Japan, Michael Mochizuki discusses the uncertainty that the end of the Soviet-American rivalry has produced in Japan's domestic politics and foreign policy. Michael Mandelbaum discusses the bilateral relationships between the United States and the three other countries and the differing issues that loom large for each: security, economics, and human rights. Finally, Richard Solomon attempts to answer the pivotal question of who will shape and wield power in the new East Asia.

Sequel to: The Russians and Reagan."A Council on foreign Relations book.""A Vintage original"--T.p. verso. Includes bibliographical references.

Mandelbaum describes the policies the United States will have to discontinue, assesses the potential threats from China, Russia, and Iran, and recommends a new policy centered on a reduction in the nation's dependence on foreign oil.

"The collapse of communism in Europe and the former Soviet Union has produced one of the most daunting tasks of the twentieth century: the construction of market economies out of the wreckage of central planning. While there is a lively debate among economists on this transformation, little has reached a nonspecialist audience." "In Making Markets, Shafiqul Islam and Michael Mandelbaum call on four eminent economists to summarize the state of current thinking. Richard Portes, Centre for Economic Policy Research in London, surveys the process of transition, examining its primary features and the problems that will be faced in light of Western economic theory and international economic practice. Paul Marer, Indiana University, gives a detailed account of the transition already underway in Central Europe. Robert Campbell, Indiana University, discusses the special problems confronting the Soviet Union's successor states, particularly Russia. Jeffrey Sachs, Harvard University and adviser to the Russian and Polish governments, considers the role of the West, citing episodes in economic history in which external support made success possible."--Jacket.

Describes the forces driving the next stage of globalization, which the author predicts will be a period of expanding wealth, opportunity, and international cooperation.

America has a huge problem. It faces four major challenges, on which its future depends, and it is failing to meet them. In That Used to Be Us, Thomas L. Friedman, one of our most influential columnists, and Michael Mandelbaum, one of our leading foreign policy thinkers, analyze those challenges -- globalization, the revolution in information technology, the nation's chronic deficits, and its pattern of energy consumption -- and spell out what we need to do now to rediscover America and rise to this moment. They explain how the end of the cold war blinded the nation to the need to address these issues. They show how our history, when properly understood, provides the key to addressing them, and explain how the paralysis of our political system and the erosion of key American values have made it impossible for us to carry out the policies the country needs. They offer a way out of the trap into which the country has fallen, which includes the rediscovery of some of our most valuable traditions and the creation of a new, third-party movement. That Used to Be Us is both a searching exploration of the American condition today and a rousing manifesto for American renewal. "As we were writing this book," Friedman and Mandelbaum explain, "we found that when we shared the title with people, they would often nod ruefully and ask: 'But does it have a happy ending?' Our answer is that we can write a happy ending, but it is up to the country -- to all of us -- to determine whether it is fiction or nonfiction. We need to study harder, save more, spend less, invest wisely, and get back to the formula that made us successful as a country in every previous historical turn. What we need is not novel or foreign, but values, priorities, and practices embedded in our history and culture, applied time and again to propel us forward as a country. That is all part of our past. That used to be us and can be again -- if we will it." - Publisher.

"The European upheavals of the twentieth century have left in their wake a series of national minorities in Eastern Europe. These "new diasporas" have been created by the movement not of people but of borders. The interaction of these minorities, the new states in which they are located, and the homeland states where their co-nationals predominate and from which they have been separated is the leading cause of large-scale conflict in the wake of communism's collapse. The politics of four of these European "national triads" - Hungarians, Russians, Serbs, and Albanians - is the focus of this important book."--BOOK JACKET.