ESCAPING WAR AND WAVES: ENCOUNTERS WITH SYRIAN REFUGEES
BY OLIVIER KUGLER
PENNSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY PRESS, JULY 2018
ISBN-13: 978-1912408122
ISBN-10:1912408120
79 PAGES
This is a book of comic journalism abut the mass movement of Syrian refugees. It is a recreated sketch-book made from interviews and photographs with refugees in Iraq, Greece, France, England and Germany from 2013-2017. Kugler vividly draws and tells the stories of refugees who used to be shopkeepers as well as those who once were lawyers, doctors, medical students, and artists. The book is beautifully detailed with illustrations that bring the reader close to the Intimate accounts of Syrian refugees. The text is insightful, heartbreaking and sometimes even humorous.
REVIEWS:
It doesn’t surprise me that Olivier Kugler’s Escaping Wars and Waves won this year’s European Design Awards Prize. . . Kugler, a German reportage artist, worked after the fact from photos he had taken and each page has all the energy of an image drawn on the spot. Artistically masterful. . . . Sketchbooks like Kugler’s make readers feel as if they are sitting beside the artist—watching the refugees climb onto the beach of the Greek island of Kos after crossing the Aegean from Turkey, or smelling the tea sold by a vendor in an Iraqi refugee camp.”
— Molly Crabapple, The New York Review of Books
“A kaleidoscopic odyssey for the era of displaced persons and disintegrating nations, this collection of dispatches from the Syrian refugee community is a fine example of humanistic journalism.”
—Publishers Weekly
Olivier Kugler is an extraordinarily skilled journalist and cartoonist who is taking comics journalism to a new level. These potent profiles from the migration front lines will leave an indelible impression on your brain and heart.”
—Joe Sacco, author of Footnotes in Gaza
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Olivier Kugler is a London-based editorial illustrator and visual journalist. As a visual reporter he has traveled to Laos, Iraqi Kurdistan, Cairo, Ghana, and much more. He is a highly skilled and passionate storyteller with a gift for both words and images. He received a graphic design degree from the School of Applied Arts in Pforzheim, Germany.
THE VIRTUAL WEAPON AND INTERNATIONAL ORDER
BY LUCAS KELLO
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, OCTOBER 2017
ISBN-13: 978-0300220230
ISBN-10: 0300220235
336 PAGES
An examination of the current cyber revolution that draws on case studies to develop conceptual frameworks for understanding its effects on international order
The cyber revolution is the revolution of our time. The rapid expansion of cyberspace in society brings both promise and peril. It promotes new modes of political cooperation, but it also disrupts interstate dealings and empowers subversive actors who may instigate diplomatic and military crises. Despite significant experience with cyber incidents, the conceptual apparatus to analyze, understand, and address their effects on international order remains primitive. Here, Lucas Kello adapts and applies international relations theory to create new ways of thinking about cyber strategy.
Kello draws on a broad range of case studies – including the Stuxnet operation against Iran, the cyberattacks against Sony Pictures, and the disruption of the 2016 U.S. presidential election – to make sense of the contemporary technological revolution.
Synthesizing data from government documents, forensic reports of major events, and interviews with senior decision-makers, this important work establishes new theoretical benchmarks to help security experts revise strategy and policy for the unprecedented challenges of our era.
REVIEWS:
[Kello’s] work represents an important step toward bridging the gap between academic thinking about international relations and the cyber revolution in the real world. We can hope his courage, audacity and clarion call will inspire others to follow.”—The Wall Street Journal
“The cyber revolution clearly constitutes an ever-growing challenge to international order. Lucas Kello reflects on technology’s role in political revolution, and the importance of aligning international-relations studies with the unruly expansion of cyberspace.”—Nature
“Displays an enviable grasp of the technical issues, as well as of the academic landscape . . . Readers of all kinds will find Mr. Kello’s book informative and thought-provoking.”—Economist
“How much has the cyber revolution transformed global politics? With a thoughtful blending of theory and empirical cases, Lucas Kello avoids the pitfalls of cyber utopians on one hand and traditional skeptics on the other. This book is a great introduction to the ways in which the cyber technology is affecting global order.”
— Joseph S. Nye, Jr., University Distinguished Service Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and author of The Future of Power
“The Virtual Weapon grapples with the most important security issue facing the world: how to understand the impact of the creation of the cyber world on the global system. As the Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, I worried more about cyber security than anything else. This book is a superb overview of the unfolding challenges, which will only loom larger as this turbulent 21st century draws on.”
— Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander of Nato (2010 – 2013).
“The Virtual Weapon points to the huge gap in international relations theory regarding the cyber domain, and performs an important service in filling it with conceptual structure. The book makes a powerful case that the nature of global power has been fundamentally altered by the ongoing digital revolution.”
— Prof. Francis Fukuyama, Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
“The Virtual Weapon poses a much-needed challenge to the fields of international relations and security studies: to take the virtual domain seriously as a distinctive arena of global action. Even those who disagree with Kello’s analysis can no longer duck the significance of his subject.”
— Anne-Marie Slaughter, President and CEO, New America
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Lucas Kello is senior lecturer in international relations at Oxford University, where he also serves as director of the Centre for Technology and Global Affairs.
THE CHINA MISSION: GEORGE MARSHALL’S UNFINISHED WAR, 1945-47
BY DANEL KURTZ-PHELAN
- W. NORTON & COMPANY, 2018
ISBN-13: 978-0393240955
ISBN-10: 0393240959
476 PAGES
An Economist Best Book of 2018 A spellbinding narrative of the high-stakes mission that changed the course of America, China, and global politics―and a rich portrait of the towering, complex figure who carried it out.
As World War II came to an end, General George Marshall was renowned as the architect of Allied victory. Set to retire, he instead accepted what he thought was a final mission―this time not to win a war, but to stop one. Across the Pacific, conflict between Chinese Nationalists and Communists threatened to suck in the United States and escalate into revolution. His assignment was to broker a peace, build a Chinese democracy, and prevent a Communist takeover, all while staving off World War III.
In his thirteen months in China, Marshall journeyed across battle-scarred landscapes, grappled with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, and plotted and argued with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and his brilliant wife, often over card games or cocktails. The results at first seemed miraculous. But as they started to come apart, Marshall was faced with a wrenching choice. Its consequences would define the rest of his career, as the secretary of state who launched the Marshall Plan and set the standard for American leadership, and the shape of the Cold War and the US-China relationship for decades to come. It would also help spark one of the darkest turns in American civic life, as Marshall and the mission became a first prominent target of McCarthyism, and the question of “who lost China” roiled American politics.
REVIEWS:
“The best character study of Marshall I’ve yet seen. He comes alive here as in nothing else that’s been written about him. A major achievement.”
—John Lewis Gaddis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of George F. Kennan and professor of history, Yale University
“Thoroughly researched and compellingly written, [The China Mission] is at once a revealing study of character and leadership, a vivid reconstruction of a critical episode in the history of the early Cold War and an insightful meditation on the limits of American power even at its peak.” — New York Times Book Review
“[A] compelling portrait of a remarkable soldier and statesman, and an instructive lesson in the limits of American power, even at its zenith.” — Economist
“[A]t once a character study of the charismatic and dedicated Marshall; a narrative account of the mission’s miraculous early successes and prolonged, painful collapse; and a meditation on the impossibility of reconciling parties that are determined to remain enemies.” — Foreign Affairs
“. . . Apart from the engrossing China saga, what makes this books so absorbing—and sometimes even touching—is that it draws the reader into the life of a truly great American, reminding us of a different time in America’s odyssey when a sense of modesty, service to mankind, and duty to country were enthroned and esteemed.” — Orville Schell, Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations
“America has always sought to convert rather than understand China, whether to Christianity or capitalism. In this brilliant historical study, Daniel Kurtz-Phelan focuses on the pivotal moment of misunderstanding between these two very different countries. As a bonus, he provides a beautifully written portrait of George Marshall, a statesman of such integrity that he seems as far removed from Washington, D.C., today as would an ancient Roman.” — Fareed Zakaria, CNN host and author of The Post-American World
“An outstanding book on a very important subject: how to use American power judiciously and effectively in a rapidly changing world.” — Odd Arne Westad, S. T. Lee Professor of US-Asia Relations, Harvard University
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Daniel Kurtz-Phelan is the executive editor of Foreign Affairs. He previously served in the US State Department as a member of the secretary of state’s Policy Planning Staff. His reportage and analysis have appeared in publications including the New York Times and The New Yorker.
DEFEAT IS AN ORPHAN: HOW PAKISTAN LOST THE GREAT SOUTH ASIAN WAR
BY MYRA MACDONALD
HURST PUBLISHERS, LONDON 2017
ISBN-13: 978-1849046411
ISBN-10: 1849046417
313 PAGES
When India and Pakistan held nuclear tests in 1998, they restarted the clock on a competition that had begun half a century earlier. Nuclear weapons restored strategic parity, erasing the advantage of India’s much larger size and conventional military superiority. Yet in the years that followed Pakistan went on to lose decisively to India. It lost any ability to stake a serious claim to Kashmir, a region it called its jugular vein. Its ability to influence events in Afghanistan diminished. While India’s growing economy won it recognition as a rising world power, Pakistan became known as a failing state. Pakistan had lost to India before but the setbacks since 1998 made this defeat irreversible.
Defeat is an Orphan follows the rollercoaster ride through post-nuclear India-Pakistan, from bitter conflict in the mountains to military confrontation in the plains, from the hijacking of an Indian plane to the assault on Mumbai. Nuclear weapons proved to be Pakistan’s undoing. They encouraged a reckless reliance on militant proxies even as the jihadis spun out of control outside and inside Pakistan. By shielding it from retaliation, the nuclear weapons also sealed it into its own dysfunction — so much so that the Great South Asian War, fought on-and-off since 1947, was not so much won by India as lost by Pakistan.
REVIEWS:
“A slashing indictment of Pakistani strategy by a journalist who has covered South Asia for decades . . . MacDonald shows in dramatic detail how this obsession with India (and in particular the problem of a divided Kashmir) undermined Pakistan’s democracy and economy, how peace opportunities were lost, and how Islamabad lost control of militant groups that it had initially fostered.”– Andrew J. Nathan, Foreign Affairs
“MacDonald lucidly explains how the Pakistani establishment’s strategic choices since the country’s nuclear tests in 1998 contributed to growing political instability at home and isolation overseas. . . . At a broader level, MacDonald’s work demonstrates how the possession of nuclear weapons does not necessarily lead a country to pursue more moderate policies, and also highlights the difficulties and risks associated with trying to achieve a balance of power with a much larger rival.”–Choice magazine
“Pakistan’s military strategy integrates the role of religious militant non-state proxies to fight its never-ending war with India. But, as MacDonald demonstrates, this approach by its generals has never borne any fruit and is likely to destabilize the region further with proliferation of tactical nuclear weapons.”– Ayesha Siddiqua, author of Military Inc.: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Myra MacDonald is a journalist and author specializing in South Asian politics and security. She was a correspondent for Reuters for nearly thirty years, and also published a book on the Siachen war. She lives in Scotland.
SALMAN’S LEGACY: THE DILEMMAS OF A NEW ERA IN SAUDI ARABIA
EDITED BY MADAWI AL-RASHEED
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, JUNE 2018
ISBN: 978-0190901745
EISBN: 9780190050269
ASIN: B07JJBXC7Q
320 PAGES
King Salman of Saudi Arabia began his rule in 2015 confronted with a series of unprecedented challenges. The dilemmas he has faced are new and significant, from leadership shuffles and falling oil prices to regional and international upheaval. Salman’s Legacy interrogates this era and assesses its multiple social, political, regional and international challenges. Whether Salman’s policies have saved the kingdom from serious upheaval is yet to be seen, but no doubt a new kingdom is emerging.
This book offers historical and contemporary insights into the various problems that persist in haunting the Saudi state. Madawi Al-Rasheed brings together well-established historians and social scientists with deep knowledge of Saudi Arabia–its history, culture and contemporary politics–to reflect on Salman’s kingdom. They trace both policy continuities and recent ruptures that have perplexed observers of Saudi Arabia. This lucid and nuanced analysis invites serious reflection on the Saudi leadership’s capacity to withstand the recent challenges, especially those that came with the Arab uprisings. At stake is the future of a country that remains vital to regional stability, international security, and the global economy.
REVIEWS:
“In Salman’s Legacy, a series of academics examine the meaning and impact of the new policies, looking at the function of the state, regional and foreign policy, economics, and religion. As with all essay collections, the quality varies, but the range highlights just how many aspects of Saudi society are in transition-although it’s hard to predict to what, exactly.” – Lindsey Hilsum The New York Review of Books
“Salman’s Legacy offers a timely and extremely relevant look at a kingdom in flux. The contributors shed valuable light on the country that Mohammed bin Salman looks set to rule for decades to come. This volume assesses and contextualizes the accelerated pace of change in Saudi Arabia, where an old order is giving way rapidly to a new but uncertain future.” — Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Fellow for the Middle East at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, author of Insecure Gulf: The End of Certainty and the Transition to the Post-Oil Era and Qatar and the Arab Spring
“In this meticulously edited volume, Madawi Al-Rasheed solidifies her reputation as the leading scholar on Saudi Arabia. Comprehensive in its scope, nuanced in its interpretation, with a plethora of fresh historical and political insights, no serious student of contemporary Saudi Arabia can afford to ignore this book.” — Nader Hashemi, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies, University of Denver
“A timely intervention into some of the major debates concerning Saudi Arabia in the twenty-first century. Offering a wealth of new insight, the contributors depict a Saudi Arabia that is more complex, diverse, and globally central than much of the scholarship so often claims. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the contemporary regional landscape.” — Rosie Bsheer, Assistant Professor of History, Yale University, co-editor of The Dawn of the Arab Uprisings: End of An Old Order?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Madawi Al-Rasheed is Visiting Professor at the Middle East Centre, London School of Economics. In 2016, she was Visiting Research Professor at the Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore. She is the author of several books on Saudi Arabia. Her latest, Muted Modernists: The Struggle Over Divine Politics in Saudi Arabia, was published by Hurst in 2016.
CRASHED: HOW A DECADE OF FINANCIAL CRISES CHANGED THE WORLD
BY ADAM TOOZE
VIKING PRESS, AUGUST 2018
ISBN: 0141032219
ASIN: B077CNPYTL
706 PAGES
From a prizewinning economic historian, an eye-opening reinterpretation of the 2008 economic crisis (and its ten-year aftermath) as a global event that directly led to the shockwaves being felt around the world today.
In September 2008 President George Bush could still describe the financial crisis as an incident local to Wall Street. In fact it was a dramatic caesura of global significance that spiraled around the world, from the financial markets of the UK and Europe to the factories and dockyards of Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, forcing a rearrangement of global governance. In the United States and Europe, it caused a fundamental reconsideration of capitalist democracy, eventually leading to the war in the Ukraine, the chaos of Greece, Brexit, and Trump.
It was the greatest crisis to have struck Western societies since the end of the Cold War, but was it inevitable? And is it over? Crashed is a dramatic narrative resting on original themes: the haphazard nature of economic development and the erratic path of debt around the world; the unseen way individual countries and regions are linked together in deeply unequal relationships through financial interdependence, investment, politics, and force; the ways the financial crisis interacted with the spectacular rise of social media, the crisis of middle-class America, the rise of China, and global struggles over fossil fuels.
Finally, Tooze asks, given this history, what now are the prospects for a liberal, stable, and coherent world order?
REVIEWS:
“An intelligent explanation of the mechanisms that produced the crisis and the response to it…One of the great strengths of Tooze’s book is to demonstrate the deeply intertwined nature of the European and American financial systems.”–The New York Times Book Review
“[A] monumental narrative history of 10 years that have reshaped our world…Crashed gives readers a detailed and superbly researched account of the origins and consequences of the wave of financial crises that emanated from the core of the global financial system from 2007. The prose is clear. The scholarship remarkable. Even people who have followed this story closely will learn a great deal.”—Martin Wolf, The Financial Times
“There have been many, many books about the financial crisis, but few, if any, have treated it as a world-wide event…This is economic history on an epic scale, and readers who persevere through the book’s roughly 600 pages of text will find many surprises…Mr. Tooze has written a valuable book about the challenges of managing a tightly connected world economy. The questions he raises resonate in the Age of Trump.”—The Wall Street Journal
“Bold . . . At the heart of [Crashed] lies a paradox: even though the financial crisis exposed the failings of the American economic model, its aftermath has underscored America’s continuing economic pre-eminence . . . The good thing about Crashed is that it allows for the possibility of American regeneration. Like any sophisticated history, it acknowledges that human agency matters; political and economic forces may shape context but outcomes are not predetermined.”—Sebastian Mallaby, Evening Standard (UK)
“Tooze presents a grand unified theory of how we woke up to a world in seemingly headlong retreat from the liberal, democratic, free-trading, ever more prosperous globalized order the West broadly promised at the end of the Cold War.”—Foreign Policy
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Adam Tooze is the author of Wages of Destruction, winner of the Wolfson and Longman History Today Prize. He is the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of History at Columbia University. He formerly taught at Yale University, where he was Director of International Security Studies, and at the University of Cambridge. He has worked in executive development with several major corporations and contributed to the National Intelligence Council.
A NEW FOREIGN POLICY: BEYOND AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM
BY JEFFREY D. SACHS
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS, OCTOBER 2018
ISBN-13: 9780231188487
EISBN: 9780231547888
ASIN: B077XQ3GZ6
272 PAGES
In this incisive and forceful book, Jeffrey D. Sachs provides the blueprint for a new foreign policy that embraces global cooperation, international law, and aspirations for worldwide prosperity—not nationalism and gauzy dreams of past glory. He argues that America’s approach to the world must shift from military might and wars of choice to a commitment to shared objectives of sustainable development. Our pursuit of primacy has embroiled us in unwise and unwinnable wars, and it is time to shift from making war to making peace and time to embrace the opportunities that international cooperation offers. A New Foreign Policy explores both the danger of the “America first” mindset and the possibilities for a new way forward, proposing timely and achievable plans to foster global economic growth, reconfigure the United Nations for the twenty-first century, and build a multipolar world that is prosperous, peaceful, fair, and resilient.
REVIEWS:
Forceful and angry, Sachs verges on hyperbole in his indictment of America past and present, but he does highlight the perils of continuing on the same path – New York Times Book Review
His new book is entitled A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism, and there is much inside to be celebrated. I never thought I would utter the words “I agree with Jeff Sachs,” let alone put them in print, yet here we are – American Conservative
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jeffrey D. Sachs is University Professor at Columbia University and serves as Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development and professor of health policy and management at Columbia University. He is a New York Times best-selling author, and his Columbia University Press books include The Age of Sustainable Development (2015) and Building the New American Economy: Smart, Fair, and Sustainable (2017).
Professor Sachs serves as the Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and is Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on the Sustainable Development Goals. He is Chair and Founder of SDG USA, a non-governmental initiative to promote the Sustainable Development Goals concepts in the United States. He is the co-recipient of the 2015 Blue Planet Prize, the leading global prize for environmental leadership.
Prior to joining Columbia, Sachs spent over twenty years as a professor at Harvard University, most recently as the Galen L. Stone Professor of International Trade. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Sachs received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at Harvard.
NO PLACE FOR RUSSIA: EUROPEAN SECURITY INSTITUTIONS SINCE 1989
(WOODROW WILSON CENTER PRESS SERIES)
BY WILLIAM H. HILL
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS, AUGUST 2018
ASIN: B077XQ13MR
536 PAGES
In No Place for Russia, William H. Hill traces the development of the post–Cold War European security order to explain today’s tensions, showing how attempts to integrate Russia into a unified Euro-Atlantic security order were gradually overshadowed by the domination of NATO and the EU—at Russia’s expense. Hill argues that the redivision of Europe has been largely unintended and not the result of any single decision or action. Instead, the current situation is the cumulative result of many decisions—reasonably made at the time—that gradually produced the current security architecture and led to mutual mistrust. Hill analyzes the United States’ decision to remain in Europe after the Cold War, the emergence of Germany as a major power on the continent, and the transformation of Russia into a nation-state, placing major weight on NATO’s evolution from an alliance dedicated primarily to static collective territorial defense into a security organization with global ambitions and capabilities. Closing with Russia’s annexation of Crimea and war in eastern Ukraine, No Place for Russia argues that the post–Cold War security order in Europe has been irrevocably shattered, to be replaced by a new and as-yet-undefined order.
REVIEWS:
William H. Hill’s No Place for Russia is the most comprehensive and lucid account I have read of how the post-Cold War Euro-Atlantic security order developed. Hill’s long experience as a diplomat and his scholarly eye offer new insight into the unsuccessful project to integrate Russia into European security structures, explaining how and why the buoyant optimism of the late 1980s gave way to the rancor and resentment that define attitudes between Moscow and the West today. An indispensable work for understanding why the East-West divide has reemerged, and a source of wisdom on how both sides might begin to repair the damage done – John Beyrle, former U.S. ambassador to Russia and Bulgaria
As a longtime student of Russia and as a former diplomat directly involved in addressing some of Europe’s most intractable security challenges, Hill brings a wealth of experience and insights into this clearly written, compelling, and timely narrative – David Kramer, former U.S. assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor
The end of the Cold War brought with it the expectation of a new era of peace and prosperity. What went wrong? A lack of trust and a lingering Cold War mentality in some quarters, compounded by misunderstandings, misperceptions, and missed opportunities, led to progressively worsening relations between Russia and the West – Lamberto Zannier, high commissioner on national minorities, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
Combining the analytical skills of a well-trained historian with the experience of a senior diplomat who participated in many of the events he analyzes, No Place for Russia provides a comprehensive analysis of why relations between Russia and West failed to develop around a regime of cooperative security and explores the challenges for policy makers throughout the region to cope with the ambiguous, messy international security disorder that has emerged in the early decades of the twenty-first century – P. Terrence Hopmann, Johns Hopkins University
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
William H. Hill is professor emeritus of national security strategy at the National War College in Washington and a retired foreign service officer who served in various posts in Europe, the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Defense, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
END OF AN ERA: HOW CHINA’S AUTHORITARIAN REVIVAL IS UNDERMINING ITS RISE
BY CARL MINZNER
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, MARCH 2018
ISBN-13: 978-0190672089
ISBN-10: 0190672080
296 PAGES
Since the 1990s, Beijing’s leaders have firmly rejected any fundamental reform of their authoritarian one-party political system, even as a decades-long boom has reshaped China’s economy and society. On the surface, their efforts have been a success. Political turmoil has toppled former Communist East bloc regimes, internal unrest overtaken Middle East nations, and populist movements risen to challenge established Western democracies. China, in contrast, has appeared a relative haven of stability and growth.
But as Carl Minzner shows, a closer look at China’s reform era reveals a different truth. Over the past three decades, a frozen political system has fueled both the rise of entrenched interests within the Communist Party itself, and the systematic underdevelopment of institutions of governance among state and society at large. Economic cleavages have widened. Social unrest has worsened. Ideological polarization has deepened.
Now, to address these looming problems, China’s leaders are progressively cannibalizing institutional norms and practices that have formed the bedrock of the regime’s stability in the reform era. Technocratic rule is giving way to black-box purges; collective governance sliding back towards single-man rule. The post-1978 era of “reform and opening up” is ending. China is closing down. Uncertainty hangs in the air as a new future slouches towards Beijing to be born. End of an Era explains how China arrived at this dangerous turning point, and outlines the potential outcomes that could result.
REVIEWS:
“Mr. Minzner’s arguments are lucid, readable and well-sourced, making this compact volume compulsory reading for those who continue to insist that China’s authoritarian governance might be an improvement on democracy.” -Wall Street Journal
“Captivating and essential reading for all China watchers.” -Library Journal
“Carl Minzner takes the measure of ‘China’s rise’ in a highly readable, yet penetrating, analysis that accurately gauges its weaknesses as well as strengths.” -Jerome A. Cohen, Professor of Law and Faculty Director, U.S.-Asia Law Institute, New York University School of Law, and Adjunct Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
“A concise, authoritative, and impartial analysis of the challenges China faces as it tries to balance a vibrant, dynamic, ever evolving economy and society, with a static, centralised political system. This study asks fundamental, hard questions about whether this perpetual squaring of the circle can actually ever be achieved. Its conclusions are sobering and thought provoking.” -Kerry Brown, Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China Institute, King’s College, London
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Carl Minzner is Professor of Law at Fordham Law School. He is an expert in both Chinese law and governance, and has written extensively on these topics in both academic journals and the popular press.