Fareed Zakaria is an optimist: He believes in the ability of the United States to adapt.
But in his new book, The Post-American World, the author and journalist raises a tantalizing argument that the war in Iraq will mark the decline of American power, and that the rise of China, India, Brazil and other countries pose a special challenge to the United States in this century.
Zakaria, a columnist and the editor of Newsweek International, talks to Robert Siegel about a possible precedent for the U.S. in Iraq ”” Britain’s war just over a century ago in South Africa, the Boer War. He also discusses how the U.S. ought to think of its role in the world going forward as being the “chairman of the board.”
Ever since I visited Calcutta, India, some 20 years ago, I have felt that the United States will need to lose it’s sense of entitlement and nationalistic superiority. Globalization has changed everything. I sense this is a defining moment in our nation’s history, and I hope and pray we don’t blow it!