Condi reflects on what she’s learned
It apparently took September 11 to shake Condoleezza Rice out of her old-school, big-state diplomacy mindset. Reflecting on the lessons of the past seven years, she writes: What has changed is, most broadly, how we view the relationship between the dynamics within states and the distribution of power among them. As globalization strengthens some states, ...
It apparently took September 11 to shake Condoleezza Rice out of her old-school, big-state diplomacy mindset. Reflecting on the lessons of the past seven years, she writes:
It apparently took September 11 to shake Condoleezza Rice out of her old-school, big-state diplomacy mindset. Reflecting on the lessons of the past seven years, she writes:
What has changed is, most broadly, how we view the relationship between the dynamics within states and the distribution of power among them. As globalization strengthens some states, it exposes and exacerbates the failings of many others — those too weak or poorly governed to address challenges within their borders and prevent them from spilling out and destabilizing the international order.
Rice is sounding an awful lot like the new Failed States Index, published this week by Foreign Policy and the Fund for Peace:
[W]eak states are weak precisely because they lack the resiliency to cope with unwelcome—and unpleasant—surprises. When a global economic downturn pinches the main export base, an election goes awry, or a natural disaster wipes out villages, the cracks of vulnerability open wider.
What’s particularly interesting is just how modest Rice seems throughout the essay. There are no full-throated, unqualified claims here about the way the world works. For instance, Rice appears to be uncertain about whether the "China model" is sustainable:
Ultimately, it is at least an open question whether authoritarian capitalism is itself an indefinitely sustainable model. Is it really possible in the long run for governments to respect their citizen’s talents but not their rights? I, for one, doubt it.
Yasheng Huang, who argues in a new cover story for FP that China’s fastest growth has come when it has been most liberal, would say no.
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