Book Review: After the Empire
The full title is After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order (European Perspectives: A Series in Social Thought and Cultural, writting by frenchman Emmanuel Todd. It’s really about the end of the USA as a supoerpower, a country that at the time of writing of the book (2002) needed an inflow of 1.2 Billion USD per day (1.5 Billion at the time of me writing this) to allow its overconsumption to continue. A country that at its then current level was would have burned through its oil reserves by 2010 (this book is not about oil though). A land which is fighting for democracy at a time when democracy is on the rise, due to increased literacy as one of the driving forces. there is actually some evidence given that there is at least a correlation between the two, if not a causation.
In the book, Emmanuel Todd tries to give a few alternative view points on why the USA is acting like it is. In his mind it is mainly because America is dependant on the money from the outside and that the $ is being threatened by the coming of the EUR. It is not the most productive country with Japan beating it by a huge marging and the world wide democratization is going on strong with countries like Iran not being there yet but moving in the right direction, at their own pace.
While this is a way to complicated field for simple rules and for definite answers, Todd does have some interesting points that get the thinking process started. I would have wished for some more hard data on money flows, productivity and the like, but this might be a personal preference. Also, I might not agree with some of the points he makes, but the general direction he is talking about, and the general idea about the reasons behind the US behaviour do some arround as conclusive and agreeable. e.g. I do agree that the US has attacked Iraq at least partly to make a point about their supremacy and because Iraq was a very easy target, or so their thought.
I don’t believe things ar eas easy as he puts them but then again, it’s only scratching the surface anyway, a good scratch though. A good read for those with an open mind.