''The World America Made'' is a 2012 non-fiction book written by Robert Kagan. In it, Kagan argues against the retreat of the United States as the global superpower and suggests that maintaining the current American-led world order is good for democracy around the world. The book influenced President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

2012 State of the Union Address The 2012 State of the Union Address was given by the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, on January 24, 2012, at 9:00 p.m. EST, in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives to the 112th United States Congress. It ...

.Mark Landler
Obama Buttresses Case for U.S. Resilience With Book From Unlikely Source
''The New York Times'', January 27, 2012

Content

The book argues against a declinist view of American global influence, despite the

financial crisis of 2007–08 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

and the rise of China. Kagan compares the hypothesis of America's retreat as the world's superpower to the 1946 film '' It's a Wonderful Life'', where the main character decides not to commit suicide after realizing how significant his contributions have been to the well-being of the world around him.Mark Steyn
It's Not Our World
''National Review'', May 14, 2012 Kagan posits that "political and economic freedom combined with military strength as the foundation of the enduring American power" led to a "the current historical “wave” towards democracy." He argues that this will only continue if the United States remains the global superpower, as opposed to the prospect of a post-nationalist and multipolar world.The World America Made
''Publishers Weekly'', February 27, 2012 Indeed, he predicts an American retreat would resemble "the breakdown of the Roman Empire and the collapse of the European order in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Critical reception

Background

The book was widely reviewed. It received both good and bad reviews. Moreover, an adapted except was published as an article in ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' on the day of its publication.Robert Kagan
Why the World Needs America
''The Wall Street Journal'', February 11, 2012 The book also influenced the

given by President

Negative reviews

In ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Michiko Kakutani criticized the book for its "fuzzy generalizations, debatable assertions and self-important declarations of the obvious."Michiko Kakutani
Historian Who Influences Both Obama and Romney
''The New York Times'', February 13, 2012 In comparison to Zbigniew Brzezinski's book '' Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power'', she argued it lacked "perspicuity." She added that some of Kagan's examples were "odd exercises in relativism or blatant rationalizations of current woes." She highlighted Kagan's "shaky reasoning" and "failure to grapple convincingly with crucial problems facing America today" as well as his "condescending tone" and "sometimes less than coherent reasoning." She concluded that it was disconcerting that both President Barack Obama and Governor

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts f ...

appreciated Kagan's scholarship. In ''

The National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...

'', Mark Steyn suggested that Kagan "prefer edto stick to big-picture generalizations, as if nervous his argument ouldn'twithstand close contact with specifics," and criticized "Kagan's complacency." He added, "Kagan never defines terms" and asked, "What does Kagan mean by “democracy”?." He went to say, "I had a strong urge ..to toss the book out of the window and back my truck over it." Additionally, he derided Kagan's assertion that the smooth transfer of power from Britain to the United States would be comparable to a potential transfer of power from the United States to China, arguing that the latter nations were too different, both in terms of culture (language, freedom of speech, etc.), but also in terms of economic system (Communism as opposed to capitalism). In a muffled praise, he added "The nearest thing to an insight in Kagan's book comes toward the end when he states what ought to be obvious — that “a liberal world order will only be supported by liberal nations.”" In '' National Interest'', Christopher A. Preble, a Fellow at the

Cato Institute The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch Indust ...

, a libertarian think tank, described the book as "a cri de coeur directed at a foreign—policy establishment beset by doubts and a wider public harboring even deeper ones."Christopher A. Preble
Book Review: The Critique of Pure Kagan
''National Interest'', June 28, 2012 He added that Kagan's ideas were "shortsighted at best, harmful at worst." Instead, he argued, "The world is both more complicated and more durable than Kagan imagines," lamenting Kagan's "flawed analysis." However, he went on to admit, "His ideas represent something close to the reigning orthodoxy in Washington today and for the past two decades." He concluded by saying that the book was unconvincing and paralleled an essay Kagan co-wrote in 1996 with

Bill Kristol William Kristol (; born December 23, 1952) is an American neoconservative writer. A frequent commentator on several networks including CNN, he was the founder and editor-at-large of the political magazine ''The Weekly Standard''. Kristol is now ...

entitled, ''Toward a Neo—Reaganite Foreign Policy'', adding, "He didn't prove iscase before, and he doesn’t now."

Positive reviews

On the other hand, ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' described the book as "intelligent, cogent, and timely." Similarly, writing for ''

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...

'', Bard College Professor Walter Russell Mead praised the book, saying, "As usual, Kagan's writing bristles with insights and ideas."Walter Russell Mead
The World America Made
''Foreign Affairs'', May/June 2012 In ''

The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikk ...

'', Gideon Rachman called it "a spirited essay."Gideon Rachman
American nightmare
''The Financial Times'', March 16, 2012 He described the first two-thirds of the book as "fluently argued and ..quite powerful," but added that the last part was "less convincing." Writing for the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

'', Mark Leonard described the book as an "elegant and perceptive essay."Mark Leonard
The world that America built
''New Statesman'', May 2, 2012 In the ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the All ...

'', Mark DeSantis called it an "accessible, thought-provoking and extraordinary (short) book."Mark DeSantis
'The World America Made': Robert Kagan for the defense
''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', February 13, 2012 In the ''

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The newspaper was foun ...

'', Dr Joseph S. Maresca called it "an important book about America's role in the world."Dr Joseph S. Maresca
Book Review: The World America Made by Robert Kagan
''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'', March 10, 2013 He added that it was "easy to read" and "directed to a wide audience in government, industry, and the general public."

Content

Critical reception

Background

Negative reviews

Positive reviews

References

External links