Michael Mandelbaum - The Ideas That Conquered The World: Peace, Democracy, And Free Markets In The Twenty-first Century

One can have no better guide than Michael Mandelbaum.... Mandelbaums main point... that peace, democracy, and free markets characterize the conduct of human affairs at the outset of the third millennium is surely a blessing we should be thankful for.

DANIEL PIPES, THE NEW YORK POST

A significant intellectual advance in the discussion of democratic peace theory and the future of liberal ideas and institutions.... Even those who disagree with his analysis will find much to admire in its clarity, consistency, and comprehensiveness.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Persuasively argues that a new order is indeed triumphing across the globe.... An incisive primer on the future, one that convincingly sketches out the contours of a possible liberal democratic world to come.

FORWARD

Mandelbaums tonic reminder is that liberal ideals and free markets have become either a reality or a goal for an astonishing share of humanity.

NEW YORK SUN

Mandelbaum has a gift for terse exposition, and this is a highly readable book.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

If you are like me and trying to put the events of Sept. 11 in some overall historical context, then I recommend Michael Mandelbaums new book... written clearly and with a wit rarely seen in such a serious work.

JAMES KLURFELD, NEWSDAY

Mandelbaum makes this case in a serious, sustained, and scholarly manner.... A valuable primer on many of the key issues in international affairs today.... Captures with considerable scholarship and clarity the general underpinnings of current international relations and the possibilities for the future.

THE WEEKLY STANDARD

Policy enthusiasts will read Mandelbaums astute and exceptionally well-written analysis with great interest and may even share his cautious optimism about liberalisms prospects.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

A thought provoking book that deserves to be read by as large an audience as possible.

EUROPE

A fresh and incisive analysis of the policies, ideas, and economic systems of the 21 st century.

CARNEGIE REPORTER

One of the must read books of the year.

CHOICE

An excellent historical understanding of the evolution of the Western liberal ideas of free trade, democracy, and peace.

PARAMETERS

A timely and relevant analysis. Mandelbaum speaks powerfully and insightfully to our vexing and manifold challenges.

CHARLOTTE OBSERVER

Illuminating and thought-provoking.

HENRY KISSINGER

Michael Mandelbaum has stepped back from the crises of the moment to look at the big picture. What he sees is stability, prosperity, and international consensus. As Americans worry about the future, they should read this work of intelligent optimism.

FAREED ZAKARIA, NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL

Michael Mandelbaum demonstrates, with extraordinary authority and lucidity, how the liberal ideas first enunciated by Woodrow Wilson have come to decisively shape the world at the beginning of the twenty-first century. These ideas, and not the terrorism of Sept. 11, are the true underpinnings of world politics today.

FRANCIS FUKUYAMA, THE JOHNS HOPKINS SCHOOL OF ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

Almost ninety years ago, Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the political triad of peace, democracy, and free markets. How difficult it has been to get there! Nonetheless, the broad global trends of the past century show that humankind has been moving, often kicking and screaming, in this Wilsonian direction. Mandelbaums achievement is to chart that course, and explain the interconnectedness of ideas, politics, and economics. He is not rash enough to assume that the path toward global peace and prosperity will be easier than that in the past. But this intelligent and interesting book gives todays civic society grounds for hope in our common future.

PAUL KENNEDY, YALE UNIVERSITY

The Ideas That Conquered the World is the most important work thus far on whats new and whats old about the post-Cold War world, about the forces and ideas that will do battle in the future, and it is beautifully written. It shows that history continues with interesting new wrinklesworrisome and exciting.

LESLIE H. GELB, PRESIDENT EMERITUS, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

The Nuclear Question:

The United States and Nuclear Weapons 19461976

(1979)

The Nuclear Revolution

(1981)

The Nuclear Future

(1983)

Reagan and Gorbachev

(CO-AUTHOR, 1987)

The Fate of Nations:

The Search For National Security

in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

(1988)

The Global Rivals

(CO-AUTHOR, 1988)

The Dawn of Peace in Europe

(1996)

To Anne Mandelbaum, with love

IT IS A PLEASURE TO acknowledge the considerable help I have received in the writing of this book.

Four institutions and their leaders made it possible. First and foremost is the Council on Foreign Relations, where I have been a senior fellow since 1986. The Councils president, Leslie H. Gelb, suggested the books topic and the approach to it that I have adopted and was instrumental in my becoming the Councils Whitney H. Shepardson Fellow for 19992000, when much of the work was done. Without him this book would not have been written. I am indebted as well for financial and other support to the Carnegie Corporation of New York City, with which I have had the privilege of being associated first during the presidency of David Hamburg and then during that of Vartan Gregorian, who have both been most supportive of my work. I am also happy to acknowledge the special help of David C. Speedie III, the chair of the Carnegie Program on International Peace and Security. At the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of The Johns Hopkins University, Paul Wolfowitz, the former dean, authorized an additional semester of leave to complete this work. This book began as a sequel to one I wrote for the Century Foundation, The Dawn of Peace in Europe , which was published by the Foundation (then the Twentieth Century Fund) in 1996. I thank the Foundations president, Richard C. Leone, for his understanding when the project took a different path from the one I had initially planned.

The Council on Foreign Relations and the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations each organized seminars to discuss various chapters of the book. I am grateful to Lawrence J. Korb, vice president for studies of the Council on Foreign Relations, Professor James Kurth of Swarthmore College, and John Rielly, former president of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, for chairing these meetings. I thank all those who attended and would like to single out for particular appreciation for their comments the following participants: Robert Bowie, Ralph Buultjens, James Chace, Michael Elliott, Charles Elson, Adam Garfinkle, Neil Grabois, James F. Hoge Jr., Peter Kostant, Nicholas Lemann, Charles Lipson, Robert Manning, Eugene A. Matthews, Walter Russell Mead, John Mearsheimer, Rajan Menon, Philip Merrill, Karl Meyer, Don Oberdorfer, Daniel Rosen, John Munder Ross, Trudy Rubin, Ronald Tiersky, Fred Tipson, John Train, and Malcolm Wiener. David Stevens of the Council on Foreign Relations provided admirable research and logistical support.

Several of my colleagues at The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies also made helpful comments on the manuscript. They include Professors Fouad Ajami, Robert Chase, Charles Doran, Charles Pearson, James Riedel, and Riordan Roett. I am grateful to each of them.