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COLLAPSE
A World in Crisis and the Urgency of American
Leadership
By Douglas E. Schoen
Collapse: A World in Crisis and the Urgency of American Leadership by Doug
Schoen 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.
In COLLAPSE,
you'll learn that:
· We are experiencing a global crisis of
democracy - not just around the world but also within the United States -
due to the failure of institutions, the revolt against elites, and the
breakdown of the alliance system that has underpinned world peace for eight
decades. Together, these factors threaten not only public confidence, but
also governmental functioning, and pose threats to the future of free
societies, to the stability of the international system, and to global
security.
· A series of issues that speak to this crisis
of global democracy include the increasing momentum of authoritarian regimes
around the world such as North Korea and Russia, the dissolving of government
authority in Latin America (namely, Venezuela) and Africa, as well as the
political and social divisions that began to explode in the United States
during the Obama administration.
· Any hopes for a more stable international
climate can only come to fruition if the U.S. exercises effective, engaged,
committed global leadership, or "assertive democratic idealism,"
by which Schoen means that the U.S. can and should look out for its own
interests while continuing to serve as the world’s standard-bearer of democracy
and global leader. This involves a renewed commitment to leadership from the
U.S. that is informed by an idealistic, moral, yet practical outlook toward the
rest of the world.
· A large part of the global crisis that we
currently face is also rooted in foreign policy failures of the last three
administrations. President Trump's "America First" nationalist and
isolationist rhetoric and willingness to abandon allies is troubling, and Trump
generally lacks a clear vision, concrete policy, and strategic direction for
conducting foreign policy. However, there are also deeply problematic
issues with the embrace of uncritical internationalism that was, in different
ways, the downfall of both President George W. Bush’s and President Barack
Obama’s foreign policy.
In COLLAPSE,
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.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Douglas E. Schoen has been one of the most influential Democratic campaign consultants for more than 30 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 Governor Evan Bayh of Indiana, and internationally, he has worked for the heads of states of over 15 countries.
