The United States and the Great Powers: World Politics in the Twenty-First Century and American Foreign Policy in a New Era

Extract

The United States and the Great Powers: World Politics in the Twenty-First Century. By Barry Buzan. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2004. 222p. $69.95.

American Foreign Policy in a New Era. By Robert Jervis. New York: Routledge, 2005. 184p. $22.95.

While Barry Buzan and Robert Jervis share similar starting points but take us down different paths in their respective analyses, they reach a largely similar conclusion. The common point of departure is the present standing of the United States as the sole remaining superpower and the absence of Great Power challengers. Both authors note that this condition is significant because war among the Great Powers has been the driving force in world politics. Their common end point is the expectation that this condition may well endure and general agreement on the appropriate response strategies that should be followed by the Great Powers.