Book Review: The Next Decade

Reading this book took much longer than anticipated so I am a little past the 2 week mark. It was insightful, well-written and had lots of intriguing ideas. I am a big fan of George Friedman and STRATFOR (his think tank). I read his “The Next 100 Years” last fall and was interested in this new offering. Much of the ground that Friedman covers in “Decade” was also covered in “100 Years”. There were multiple times I felt I was reading the same book.

My three favorite things from this book were: the concept of the Machiavellian presidency, the discussion of the American Empire, and the inherently geographic analysis.

The Machiavellian presidency is simply defined as a president that can wield American power to preserve American ideals even if he is simultaneously violating these ideals. As examples he offers Lincoln, FDR, and Reagan. As he says in his book summary: “Each possessed a deep moral core. Each fully understood the uses of power, lying and violating the Constitution and human rights to achieve the respective moral necessities of the abolition of slavery, the destruction of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, and the destruction of the Soviet Union.” This concept provides an interesting framework for analyzing American presidents.

I love Friedman for calling it as he sees it. “The issue of whether the United States should be an empire is meaningless. It is an empire”. He makes a very compelling argument for the existence of the American Empire and how this realization must govern foreign policy. I know many Americans advocate isolationism. They need to read this book so they can understand how such a policy would never work.

The best part of all Friedman’s publications are in his approach. Friedman thinks geographically which makes my geographer heart…er brain…sing. The last half of the book is devoted to a regional analysis of the world and how America should manage each. An example quote: “India and China are divided by a wall—the Himalayas—that makes sustained conflict and high-volume overland trade virtually impossible”

In total I found this a great and informative read. Because it was so much like it’s predecessor I recommend reading “The Next 100 Years” and then first few chapters of the “The Next Decade”.

Quotables:

“Just because something like the elimination of terrorism is desirable doesn’t meant that it is practical. Or that the price to be paid is rational.”

“Now that they have lost their empires, Europeans always speak in terms of caution”

“Terrorism is not an enemy but a type of warfare that may or may not be adopted by an enemy”

“If for political reasons a president cannot clearly identify who is to be fought and why, then he must carefully reexamine whether he can win, and thus whether or not he should engage.”

“Ideals without power are simply words—they can come alive only when reinforced by the capacity to act.”

Next up “The Blue Sword” By Robin McKinley this has been billed as a fantasy YA novel. So it should be right up my alley!