Dilemmas of Domination: The Unmaking of the American Empire (American Empire Project) - Hardcover

Bello, Walden

3.48

25 ratings by Goodreads

9780805074024: Dilemmas of Domination: The Unmaking of the American Empire (American Empire Project)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805074023 ISBN 13: 9780805074024

Publisher: Metropolitan Books, 2005

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From the acclaimed globalization critic, a far-reaching analysis of America's military, economic, and political vulnerability

The empire seems unassailable, but the empire is weak-and precisely because of its imperial ambitions. So argues Walden Bello's provocative new book, which systematically dissects the strategic, economic, and political dilemmas confronting America as a consequence of its quest for global domination.

An award-winning development expert, Bello shows how despite the enormity of the U.S. defense budget, American forces are already overextended, a condition bound to intensify as each local "victory" breeds simmering resistance and new confrontation. He points to the empire's looming economic breakdown, the result of its gargantuan military costs, record-breaking deficits, and exploitative trade and investment relations with developing countries. On the political front, he warns of the bitter disillusionment mounting around the world in response to America's failure to champion liberal democracy. Everywhere America goes, crony capitalism, hostile coercion, and gross inequalities in income eat away at expectations of justice and inclusion.

A clear and prophetic examination, Dilemmas of Domination reveals a not-too-distant future in which the empire's hidden weaknesses will yield fatal challenges to American supremacy.

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About the Author:

Walden Bello, a professor of sociology and public administration at the University of the Philippines, is the author of numerous books on globalization. Also an award-winning peace and human rights activist, he lives in Quezon City.

Review:

“With unsentimental clarity, Walden Bello speaks the truth about American empire and why it is doomed by its own contradictions.”
-- William Greider, author of The Soul of Capitalism

“Walden Bello is the world's best guide to American exploitation of the globe's poor and defenseless – and the false concepts the U.S. government uses to camouflage its actions. He directly challenges the propaganda and the policies of the Washington establishment with an analysis that is both original and persuasive.”
-- Chalmers Johnson, author of The Sorrows of Empire and Blowback

“Dilemmas of Domination shows again why Walden Bello is recognized as one of the global South's – and the world's – leading analysts of the U.S. drive towards empire. His critique of the Afghan and Iraq wars is both sobering and encouraging, probing the dangers for the world in the Bush administration's militarism while recognizing the potential of the growing global peace movement. Bello’s dissection of the Asian dimension is particularly comprehensive and welcome. And, rooting the U.S. drive towards war in the corporate-driven trajectory of globalization, Bello's economic critique remains among the most prescient. A must read for scholars, activists, and global citizens.”
-- Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies fellow and author of Before & After: U.S. Foreign Policy and the September 11 Crisis

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