Rarely will we use this space to recommend a non-science book, but America as Empire: Global Leader or Rogue Power is worthy of an exception. Not only is the book directly relevant to CRN's work, but it's also a fascinating, educational and thought-provoking read.
The author, Jim Garrison, Founder and President of the State of the World Forum and the Gorbachev Foundation/USA, suggests that the United States can articulate a vision of greatness that will lead the rest of the world into liberal democracy. If American power is to persist, he says, it must exercise visionary leadership, similar to that of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman in the creation of the post World War II international world order. This order, however, which was based on a balance of power between sovereign nation-states, is now crumbling under the pressures of globalization, instantaneous communications, persistent international poverty, terrorism, and U.S. foreign policy itself.
Garrison emphasizes that "world government is not the solution nor is it a political possibility... The world does not need yet another level of bureaucracy and more stultifying processes of deliberation." His recommendations for creating the next generation of global governance mechanisms closely parallel CRN's ideas as outlined in "Three Systems of Action: A Proposed Application for Effective Administration of Molecular Nanotechnology".
Jim Garrison believes Americans must see their country as a transitional empire, whose task is not to dominate but to catalyze change that will make obsolete forever the need for empire. I heartily encourage reading this important book.
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