Collapse: A World in Crisis and the Urgency of American Leadership

by Douglas E. Schoen

Overview

Collapse takes stock of a volatile and threatening international environment by looking at some of the underlying causes and flashpoints—the principal one being the failure of institutions and elites to respond to their constituencies and address the problems of our age. This is a problem spanning the increased polarization that bred nationalist and populist movements, the continued failure of Western leaders to come up with effective strategies for combating authoritarian rivals like Russia and China, and the ongoing Islamist threat.

Schoen makes clear that the indispensable ingredient for any constructive path forward is effective, engaged, and committed American leadership. This is discussed through the lens of the failed models of President Trump’s two recent predecessors, which reflected, respectively, an uncritical embrace of American power—lacking strategic insight and proportion—and an uncritical abandonment of American leadership that suggested an abject view of the U.S. moral example in the world. Instead, Schoen posits assertive democratic idealism—an embrace of U.S. moral leadership around the world but in ways that remain leavened by realism and a guiding understanding of our national interest. Whether President Trump can deliver on such a vision remains to be seen.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781641770347
Publisher:	Encounter Books
Publication date:	03/12/2019
Pages:	264
Sales rank:	490,287
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Douglas E. Schoen has been one of the most influential Democratic campaign consultants for more than 40 years. A founding partner and principal strategist for Penn, Schoen & Berland, he is widely recognized as one of the co-inventors of overnight polling. His political clients include former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and President Bill Clinton, and his corporate clients include AOL Time Warner, Procter & Gamble, and AT&T. Internationally, he has worked for the heads of state of over 15 countries. He is the author of multiple books; his newest, America in the Age of Trump, was published in the summer of 2017. Schoen is a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and various other newspaper and online publications, as well as Fox News. He is based in New York City.

Table of Contents

Introduction: When the World Knew 1

Part I Broken Structures

Chapter 1 The Collapse of Institutional Legitimacy 21

Chapter 2 A Worldwide Movement Against Elites 43

Chapter 3 The Breakdown of Alliances 69

Part II Escalating Threats

Chapter 4 Authoritarianism Rising, Democracy Declining 89

Chapter 5 The Rogue Menace 107

Chapter 6 The Islamist Challenge 129

Chapter 7 Third World in Crisis 145

Chapter 8 A Global Energy War? 165

Part III A Way Forward

Chapter 9 Religion and American Leadership 181

Chapter 10 Assertive Democratic Idealism 199

Notes 215

Index 245

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“At a moment when chaos and disequilibrium seem to define politics and statecraft around the globe, Schoen has given us not only a way to understand how we got here, but also a prescription for how we find our way back to a more perfect union and a calmer world. A seasoned veteran of political combat, he has advised presidents, prime ministers, governors, and mayors for decades. In his newest book, Collapse, he gives us a roadmap for a new north star for global stability. During these anxious times, Schoen helps us imagine a path toward a more hopeful future. Part professor, part hardnosed political adviser, Schoen is the perfect tutor at the perfect time.”

—Richard Plepler, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of HBO


“This is a bracing, authoritative, and lucid account of the geopolitical crisis that is now afoot in the world and the need for clear-sighted, moral American leadership on the world stage. Schoen explains in an engaging, highly readable manner how the twentieth-century international alliances and pillars of Western democracy have been eroded—and surveys the rising threats posed by authoritarianism, extremist Islam, and other challenges. However, he does not succumb to defeatism; instead he appeals for a new type of American leadership known as ‘assertive democratic idealism,’ arguing that this could and should be supported by Democrats and Republicans alike. At a time when so much of the debate about domestic and global politics is deeply polarized, this vision of ‘assertive democratic idealism’ offers a welcome bipartisan call to arms, in the cause of common-sense policy making—and is precisely the type of sensible, clear-headed analysis which is so badly needed in Washington today.”

—Gillian Tett, U.S. Managing Editor, the Financial Times


“A remarkably comprehensive analysis of the challenges—internal and external—that we face today. Schoen is able to write intelligently about domestic and international issues alike, weaving them into one worrisome picture of the world. But Schoen ends up, like the man he worked for, Bill Clinton, optimistic about America’s ability to help the world out of the gloom and into broader sunlit uplands. Well worth reading.”

—Fareed Zakaria, author of The Post-American World