ABSTRACT

"Damned if you do; damned if you don’t" voices the strategic impasse the USA finds itself in today. Liberal interventionism and globalization—the two pillars of the international system—seem not to work. Explaining the inability of Western powers to enact wise initiatives, Corradi explores the de-coupling of political systems: we are connected with each other but disconnected from policy makers. The paradox of increased connectivity and collective disengagement sets a perverse dynamic between publics and elites, with a serious impact on world affairs. Corradi analyzes the social bases of present dilemmas and how incipient decline can be managed, and paralysis overcome.

chapter 1|21 pages

We Have a Problem

chapter 3|14 pages

The Failure of Alternatives

chapter 4|20 pages

The New Ancien Régime

chapter 6|16 pages

Another Rubicon?

Reflections on Defeasance in the West

chapter 7|20 pages

Behemoth Lite

National-Populist Democracy and Its Impact on Strategy

chapter 8|11 pages

When Nobody Minds the Shop