Josef Joffe – författare

Überpower 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 überpower 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 überpower escape the fate of earlier hegemons who were all laid low by lesser nations ganging up on No. 1? Überpower promises to be discussed and debated in the corridors of power on both sides of the Atlantic.

Once every decade, it is "decline time" in America. In recent years, it has been the unstoppable rise of China that has spelled "finis America." What the Chinese juggernaut is today, the Soviet Union ("We shall bury you") was in the 1950s. The Vietnam decade of the 1960s was described as America's "collective suicide attempt," while in the 1970s, the United States succumbed to Jimmy Carter's famous "malaise," as the dollar dangerously plummeted. The 1980s unquestionably belonged to a resurgent Japan, the "Rising Sun," whereas in the 1990s, Europe shone forth as an "empire by example." In the naughts, it was "Asia Rising" that became the flavor of the decade. Despite a litany of prognostications, these contenders have all fallen back, one by one. While it may be catnip for the media to play up America as a has-been, Josef Joffe, a leading German commentator and Stanford University academic, compellingly shows that Declinism is not a cold-eyed diagnosis but a device in the style of the ancient prophets: "Thou shalt perish, unless..." Gloom is a prophecy that must be believed so that it will turn out wrong.Joffe repeatedly demonstrates how the "economic miracles" that propelled the rising tide of challengers flounder against their own limits. Hardly confined to Europe alone, Declinism has also been an especially nifty career builder for American politicians, among them Kennedy, Nixon, and Reagan, who all rode into the White House by hawking "the end is near." Buttressing his argument with facts, Joffe demonstrates that America's future is sanguine. In contrast to the Carter years, the economic woes of the Obama era look more like a nasty migraine. By historical standards, the U.S. defense burden today is extraordinarily low, hence sustainable over the long haul. Immigration (plus a healthy birth rate) will not only keep the nation younger than China, Japan, Europe, and Russia but will continue to bring in the world's best and brightest. Indeed, America is the "world's Ph.D. factory" both in science and engineering, while its R&D spending dwarfs the "rising rest." Its uniquely deep and wide capital market encourages innovations and continues to turn dreams into vibrant companies.Joffe argues that it is only if America "freezes up" by enshrining privilege, closing its doors, and withdrawing from the world that it will succumb to the rigor mortis that has overwhelmed previous empires. Effortlessly mixing keen historical insights with brilliant diplomatic and economic analysis, The Myth of America's Decline becomes a remarkable reflection on our nation's standing in the world and an eye-opening account that challenges the pervasive and now tired notion that America is on the decline.

America-bashing predates America: French Enlightenment philosophies claimed that the colony was doomed and one critic reported that the colony’s population was "astonishingly idiotic [and] enervated". As the United States became a superpower after the Second World War, a more virulent, politically charged form of declinism emerged amid hysteria that "the Russians are coming". It was followed by the European miracle, Japan’s "Rising Sun" and now the looming Chinese behemoth. While declinism may delight the media and gloating Europeans eager to play up America’s "has-been" status, the facts do not corroborate the contentions, as Josef Joffe demonstrates in this history of American declinism. He offers a highly provocative examination of how the US, for all its failings, continues to be a force of rejuvenation today.

Les États-Unis représentent aujourd’hui la plus grande puissance de l’histoire. Pour autant, à la différence de beaucoup d’Européens, Josef Joffe refuse de diaboliser le Grand Satan américain. Il s’interroge plutôt : l’antiaméricanisme n’a-t-il pas aussi des racines en Europe même ? Et n’est-ce pas parce qu’ils sont impuissants que les Européens prétendent répudier la force ?L’Amérique doit, quant à elle, résister à la tentation de l’hubris impériale. Trop de puissance entraîne le rejet, la résistance, comme le montre l’histoire. L’Amérique connaîtra-t-elle le destin qu’ont eu tous les États hégémoniques par le passé ? Ou bien saura-t-elle se donner une légitimité susceptible de créer autour d’elle un consensus ?« Le meilleur livre sur le sujet depuis des années. » Fareed Zakaria, auteur de L’Avenir de la liberté, éditorialiste à Newsweek. « Grâce à sa puissance d’analyse et à son brio intellectuel, Josef Joffe embarque le lecteur pour un voyage au cœur des défis auxquels est confrontée la seule superpuissance mondiale qui soit. Le résultat est lumineux. » Zbigniew Brzezinski, auteur du Grand Échiquier et du Vrai Choix. Josef Joffe est rédacteur en chef du grand journal allemand Die Zeit. Il enseigne aussi à l’Université Stanford. Il collabore régulièrement aux grandes revues spécialisées dans les relations internationales que sont Foreign Affairs et Foreign Policy.

History, the collective experience of Mankind, teaches us about the present and the future. How do we look at events of the past? Do they help to solve our present political or economical conditions and conflicts? The essays in this anthology derive from the Engelsberg Seminar in 2019 that dealt with these questions. From perspectives as varied as the History of Ideas, Evolutionary Psychology, and Ideologies amongst others the writers apply history to today s concerns such as International Relations, Geopolitics, Economics, and the role of the individual and human nature in history. Perhaps it is only through applied history that we can find our way forward.

History, the collective experience of Mankind, teaches us about the present and the future. How do we look at events of the past? Do they help to solve our present political or economical conditions and conflicts?The essays in this anthology derive from the Engelsberg Seminar in 2019 that dealt with these questions. From perspectives as varied as the History of Ideas, Evolutionary Psychology, and Ideologies – amongst others – the writers apply history to today’s concerns such as International Relations, Geopolitics, Economics, and the role of the individual and human nature in history. Perhaps it is only through applied history that we can find our way forward.

Historien, mänsklighetens samlade erfarenheter, lär oss om nuet och framtiden. Hur är det möjligt att titta på händelser i det förflutna och med hjälp av dem lösa samtidens politiska eller ekonomiska förhållanden och konflikter?Essäerna i denna antologi härrör från Engelsbergsseminariet 2019 där dessa frågor diskuterades. Ur bland annat idéhistoriskt och evolutionspsykologiskt perspektiv tillämpar skribenterna historien på nutida företeelser som internationella relationer, geopolitik och nationalekonomi, individens roll och den mänskliga naturen. Kanske är det bara genom att tillämpa historien som vi hittar vägen framåt?

Med det kalla krigets slut och globaliseringens segertåg trodde många att nationalism hörde till historien. Men det visade sig vara tvärtom. Idag ser vi hur nationalismen sprids över hela världen. Samtidigt växer sig populistiska och anti-demokratiska rörelser starka. Att höra hemma någonstans tycks bli allt viktigare i en tid av ekonomisk och social osäkerhet. I en globaliserad värld förknippas därför identitet, medborgarskap och tillhörighet med födelseort och en fast plats att bo på. Essäerna i denna antologi är baserade på Engelsbergsseminariet 2017 där olika former av identitet knutna till olika samhällsbildningar granskades. Hur uppstår en nation? Hur skapas enighet i ett imperium med en mångfald av folk?Huvudredaktör för denna illustrerade antologi är Kurt Almqvist.

Med det kalla krigets slut och globaliseringens segertåg trodde många att nationalism hörde till historien. Men det visade sig vara tvärtom. Idag ser vi hur nationalismen sprids över hela världen. Samtidigt växer sig populistiska och anti-demokratiska rörelser starka. Att höra hemma någonstans tycks bli allt viktigare i en tid av ekonomisk och social osäkerhet. I en globaliserad värld förknippas därför identitet, medborgarskap och tillhörighet med födelseort och en fast plats att bo på. Essäerna i denna antologi är baserade på Engelsbergsseminariet 2017 där olika former av identitet knutna till olika samhällsbildningar granskades. Hur uppstår en nation? Hur skapas enighet i ett imperium med en mångfald av folk?Huvudredaktör för denna illustrerade antologi är Kurt Almqvist.

With the end of the Cold War and the triumph of globalisation, many believed that nationalism now was a thing of the past: instead the opposite is true. Today, we can see nationalism spreading across the world, as populistic and anti-democratic movements grow stronger.Belonging somewhere seems to become even more important in a time of economic and social uncertainty. In a globalised world, identity, citizenship, and belonging are consequently connected to birthplace and an established residence. In these essays the writers consider how different kinds of identity are tied to different kinds of communities. How does a nation emerge? How is unity achieved in an empire with a diverse population?