The Return of Great Power Rivalry: Democracy versus Autocracy from the Ancient World to the U.S. and China

Description

The United States of America has been the most powerful country in the world for over seventy years, but recently the U.S. National Security Strategy declared that the return of great power competition with Russia and China is the greatest threat to U.S. national security. Further, many analysts predict that America's autocratic rivals will have at least some success in disrupting-and, in the longer term, possibly even displacing-U.S. global leadership. Brilliant and engagingly written, The Return of Great Power Rivalry argues that this conventional wisdom is wrong. Drawing on an extraordinary range of historical evidence and the works of figures like Herodotus, Machiavelli, and Montesquieu and combining it with cutting-edge social science research, Matthew Kroenig advances the riveting argument that democracies tend to excel in great power rivalries. He contends that democracies actually have unique economic, diplomatic, and military advantages in long-run geopolitical competitions. He considers autocratic advantages as well, but shows that these are more than outweighed by their vulnerabilities.Kroenig then shows these arguments through the seven most important cases of democratic-versus-autocratic rivalries throughout history, from the ancient world to the Cold War. Finally, he analyzes the new era of great power rivalry among the United States, Russia, and China through the lens of the democratic advantage argument. By advancing a "hard-power" argument for democracy, Kroenig demonstrates that despite its many problems, the U.S. is better positioned to maintain a global leadership role than either Russia or China. A vitally important book for anyone concerned about the future of global geopolitics, The Return of Great Power Rivalry provides both an innovative way of thinking about power in international politics and an optimistic assessment of the future of American global leadership. Contents Also by Matthew Kroenig Preface Introduction PART I Democracy versus Autocracy 1 The Democratic Advantage in Theory 2 The Autocratic Advantage? PART II The Democratic Advantage in History 3 The Democratic Advantage by the Numbers 4 Athens, Sparta, and Persia 5 The Roman Republic, Carthage, and Macedon 6 The Venetian Republic, the Byzantine Empire, and the Duchy of Milan 7 The Dutch Republic and the Spanish Empire 8 Great Britain and France 9 The United Kingdom and Germany 10 The United States and the Soviet Union PART III The Democratic Advantage Today 11 The Russian Federation 12 The People’s Republic of China 13 The United States of America PART IV The Democratic Advantage in the Future 14 Implications for American Leadership Notes Bibliography Index