Überpower: The Imperial Temptation of America

By Josef Joffe

Book Overview

?berpower effortlessly mixes military history with keen diplomatic analysis to provide one of the most important assessments of America's international standing in years. Josef Joffe examines the gargantuan burdens brought on by singular power, arguing that the new Bush foreign policy doctrine has failed to convert fabulous strength into consent and leadership. In contrast to most of his European colleagues, Joffe does not paddle "Mr. Big" for his new ?berpower status, but traces the roots of Europe's (and the world's) new anti-Americanism to envy, fear, and the failure to keep up. But history whispers that power will generate counterpower, and the handwriting is already on the wall. How can the ?berpower escape the fate of earlier hegemons who were all laid low by lesser nations ganging up on No. 1? ?berpower promises to be discussed and debated in the corridors of power on both sides of the Atlantic.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393061353
• ISBN13: 9780393061352
• Release Date: June 2006
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.6" x 1.0" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Mature and Penetrating Analysis

A lot of hogwash about the US and its policies is slopped about by careless writers and analysts, mostly those disposed to regard Europe and its ways as more virtuous than the aggressive and uncontrollable US. Joffe brings great insight, maturity of thought and judgment, and beautiful writing to this concise and penetrating discussion of the post-Cold War world, the changed landscape, and how the US should and may respond to the strategic challenges ahead. The historial context Joffe brings to bear shows that choices, even for a colossus, are constrained and conditioned by a variety of factors. In contrast to much wistful and dreamy writing on US foreign policy (Zakaria, Albright, e.g.), there isn't a hint of contrived analysis here, nor conceptual "categories" without content (the world is flat, the rise of Asia). Joffe's knowledge of transatlantic affairs is second to none, and the compelling nature of his writing makes this an exciting book to read.

Worth reading

This is an interesting book, although I disagree with some of what Joffe says. Joffe argues that the United States, while obviously not a strong enough power to do what it pleases, is indeed strong enough so that other nations ought to show it some respect. The United States does have enough power to help keep other nations in line, if it chooses to use it. As a matter of fact, to Joffe, our power and influence are unprecedented in the modern world. Joffe begins by describing the end of the Soviet Union, which officially happened on December 25, 1991 and explains that the finish was near on July 16, 1990 when it decreed that a united Germany as a member of NATO was fine with it. The reunification of Germany, in turn was triggered by a slip of the tongue by a German functionary on November 9, 1989 who said that the East German border was being opened for "private trips to the West." I thought this history was very revealing. We then see how the United States reacted, as a "giant unbound" (the reference being to Jonathan Swift's Gulliver and Lilliput). And next, Joffe describes the reaction by some of America's allies to the United States' power. That includes a rise in anti-Americanism. He makes the excellent point that mere opposition to many American policies, or to the American President do not constitute anti-Americanism. Instead, they mask it, as genuine anti-Americanism is couched in terms of opposition to American administrations or policies. According to Joffe, true anti-Americanism "is the obsessive stereotypization, denigration, and demonization" of America and its culture. It can lead to support for the elimination of America. The author says that the "most vicious, sustained, and direct expressions of this state of mind are found in the Arab and Islamic world." But he shows that there is anti-Americanism in Europe as well: Europeans often accuse America of being morally deficient, socially retrograde, and culturally retrograde. We then get to the issues of how America ought to use its power. Joffe argues that the way to remain strong is to provide allies with something useful, such as "international public goods," which he makes into the acronym "IPGs." If we provide "extraregional balance," that is an example of an IPG. Well, maybe. That means that if we want to remain strong, we need to provide balance rather than simply conquer others. All this makes sense, although it does not seem all that profound. However, given the fact that many people simply regard America with horror, I think some of these comments may need to be made. I recommend this book.

A Handbook of Superpower Etiquette

While it is a truism that certain nations are more powerful than others, never has the post-Westphalian balance of power been more lopsided than today. The political, economic, cultural, and military resources of the United States outweigh all other nations and even any imaginable alliance of nations. Being the uberpower, however, it not all that it is made out to be, as Josef Joffe points out in this book. As an editor and publisher of the high-brow German newspaper "Die Zeit" and as German Jew educated in America, Joffe occupies a unique position to counsel on superpower conduct. During the postwar years of bipolar superpower rivalry, the Europeans derived comfort from the stability it afforded, but with the demise of the Soviet Union, the Europeans are starting to feel uneasy with the new uberpower - or hyperpuissance as former French foreign minister Hubert Vedrine would say. The current balancing of power in Europe is putting the United States on one side and everyone else on the other, not to mention the fact that it is also giving rise to anti-Americanism. Joffe, who is a "realist" thinker on international affairs, tells us this is natural occurence in the balancing of global power relations. The Iraq war was a case in point. It was not so much an issue of Saddam Hussein or weapons of mass destruction that caused France, Germany, Russia, and China thwart US efforts, it was the fact that the US was undertaking a war of choice. (Afghanistan was seen as a war of self-defence.) It looked to them as an attempt an attempt to control the world's oil supplies, making the superpower even more powerful. Joffe correctly and sympathetically notes that if the war had been only about oil, the US could easily have made a deal with Saddam and gotten all the oil it needed, and at a much better price. The European anti-Americanism that Joffe speaks of is only partially due to America's outsized power, it is also, he claims, about a certain European insecurity and sense of powerlessness. This is where Joffe plays psychotherapist and puts the Europeans on the couch. He goes through and refutes an entire list of reasons why they think America is morally deficient, and socially and culturally retrograde. This is probably the best part of the book. In Joffe's view, America will be the undisputed superpower in the foreseeable future, neither China, Russia, nor the European Union will come close in the years ahead. His advice for superpower conduct is very similar to that of Zbigniew Brzezinski, another foreign policy realist. As Brzezinski pointed out in "The Choice", a superpower can undertake unilateral action, but it cannot succeed without building consensus and alliances. The realist school argues that we should be more concerned about great power alliances and stability rather than the internal nature of the regimes. This practice, however, was discredited after 9/11 when confronted by a non-state actor (Osama bin Laden) operating from a fai

Gets beyond cliches

There is so much cliched writing about Europe and the U.S., along the lines of: "the French can't be trusted", "America wants to take over the world", etc. In a time of Michael Moore-type books, it is nice to see that there are writers out there who really can think originally and deeply about the U.S. and Europe, beyond all the cliches. One example that comes to mind is the discussion in Joffe's book about American culture: whereas European films are mostly stuck in twisted complex "introspective" themes, American Hollywood films still dare to delve into "big" themes: good vs. evil, right vs. wrong, etc. Good point, and this book is full of them. Most European thinkers totally miss points like this. The "naive" Americans make films like "Titanic" and Bruce Willis movies with a hero (horrors !), and the masses of Europeans flock to them and watch them. Why ? Because they are open and honest enough to have these types of themes, unlike most European movies, which dance around some kind of navel-gaving introspection. Europeans claim to hate American culture, but yet, as Joffe points out, U.S. culture is everywhere in Europe (I was in Germany in the fall of 2005, and saw more and more English signs, for example: "Call Center", "City Card", etc.. Europeans claim to dislike America, but their kids eat at McDonalds, and watch Angelina Jolie films, and use I-pods to listen to American jazz and hip-hop and pop music. When pressed, Europeans will admit that what they hate is the freedom and the vast choices that American culture gives the world (would you want to use European computers without the graphical user interface and mouse and all the other stuff invented in America ?). I lived in Germany for 8 years, so this is not new to me, but the author does a great job at highlighting this. And the English and French disdain military power these days, as the author points out, not because they are against military force (the French militarily intervened 47 times in Africa without UN mandate, since 1945, to give just one example), but because only the U.S. is able to do it in the 21st century. No other nation can "project power" so well as the U.S., and instead of the French and Brits saying that they just resent the U.S. being so powerful and having taken their place on the world stage, what they do is say that they disdain "military force", and that the "UN should solve all problems". This is a very good book that to me highlighted European hypocrisy, while at the same time warning the U.S. from turning too arrogant.

Keeping America on top

Joffe is one of the most respected and most pro- American European intellectuals. Editor of a major German newspaper he also studied at a number of American universities and knows the society well. In this work he looks at the US largely in terms of its relationship to Europe.He is a defender of the US and concerned about its preserving its position as dominant world power. As Brad Stephens writes in 'Commentary' " He devotes much of Überpower to tallying up the "objective" political, economic, military, and cultural strengths of the U.S. vis-à-vis its current and prospective competitors. This approach is not without its benefits, not least because Joffe, cutting against the grain of much conventional wisdom, underscores just how weak America's competitors are. Beijing? Even if China's gross domestic product were to keep doubling every decade--historically an unprecedented feat--Joffe calculates that it would only reach parity with current U.S. GDP in 30 years. Moscow? Russia's population shrinks every year by 0.5 percent, hardly a sign of national vitality." Moreover the European Union despite being fifty - percent larger in population is no real match for the U.S. especially as its own citizens have minimal loyalty to it. Stephens points out that Joffe recommends the US maintain a policy of balancing and bonding , of warding off enemies and making new friends that will enable it to strengthen its position. However Stephens criticizes Joffe for ignoring many of the dangers facing the world today, including the possibility of a radical Islamic nuclear strike. He points otu that is that Joffee does not really consider the full range of threats America faces.