America Against The World ; Andrew Kohut and Bruce Stokes

BOOK REVIEW

ON

AMERICA AGAINST THE WORLD

1.            Intro

a.         Name of the Book                 -           America Against The World

b.         Name of the Author               -           Andrew Kohut and Bruce Stokes

c.         Name / Address of the         -           Times Books Henry Holt and

the Publisher                                      Company, LLC 175 Fifth Avenue New Yark 10010

            d.         First Edition                           -           February 2006

            e.         Price                                       -           -

            f.          No of Pages                          -           259

            g.         No of Chapters                      -           10

2.         About the Authors

a.         Andrew Kohut.        Andrew Kohut is one of America’s foremost pollsters and commentators on how public opinion is shaping the national and international agendas. He is currently the director of the Pew Research Centre for the People and the Press in Washington. D.C.

b.         Bruce Stokes.         Bruce Stokes is the international economics columnist for the public policy magazine National Journal, a consultant to the Pew Global Attitudes Project, and a journalism fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Stokes is the coauthor of three Council on Foreign Relations reports. He lives in Washington, D.C. 

3.         Gen Comments on the Contents.          This book gives an insight to consider the difference between US opinion and the world opinion so as to understand global anti – Americanism. It also gives comparison of views between Americans and the people around the world on democracy, the role of the individual in the society, the role of government, and beliefs about business, social attitudes, and religion. An effort has also been made to high light the contrasting views of Americans with those of other publics on contemporary world issues, such as globalization, unilateralism, and the use of military force, which estrange the US and Americans from other countries and peoples.

4.         Specfic Comments on the Chapters

a.         Chapter 1- America Under the Microscope.    In this chapter some of the basic questions have been raised in order to develop the subject. Questions like how did the rift emerge? What are its causes? How deep is the divide? And why, even before the Iraq war, had America become enemy number one for Islamic fanatics? Then emerging power of public opinion in shaping the government polices has also been high lighted. The chapter also gives an insight to the rise of Americanism, contours of foreign policy and various dimensions of American character.

b.         Chapter 2 - The Rise of Anti – Americanism.  In this chapter various causes of rise to anti – American feelings have been traced. A statistical comparison of various survey polls has been given as a reference to understand the impact of different global events in formulating the world opinion against the Americans.

c.         Chapter 3 – The American Way. The theory of “American Exceptionalism” has been discussed in this chapter. The essence of the theory is a unique mixture, as stated by the author, of liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism, and laissez – faire values. The chapter also gives interesting comparison of surveys conducted in different years on role of America in international politics. A shift in thinking of a common American from globalization to Americanism is quite visible through annals.

d.         Chapter 4 – The Problem of American Exceptionalism.      The various problems of American Exceptionalism as compared to the contemporary nations have been high lighted. The chapter also discusses the difference between public thinking in America and the policies being followed by the government. Based on American Exceptionalism thinking, the conflict among the public to deal the world politics based on the principle of unilateralism or multilateralism has also been discussed.

e.         Chapter 5 – A Blessed People.   The issue of separating church from state has been touched here. According to the writer there is a shift within the American from non religious to religious sentiments. However, according to the writer this public’s religiosity has little influence on most US foreign policies that affect the rest of the world.

f.          Chapter 6 – Doing Business, Practicing Democracy.          In this chapter while high lighting the various contours of US style democracy and business have been discussed along with their comparision with contemporary nations. The difference of two reflects the American character that are distinctive, but they do not necessarily signify an unbridgeable gulf between Americans and other peoples of the world.

g.         Chapter 7 – Globalization and Americanization.       The different aspects of globalization and its impact on the life of a common American have been pointed out in this chapter. The auther beautifully relates globalization with Americanization by high lighting that many anti globalization demonstrations are almost indistinguishable from anti American protests. Such schizophrenic sentiments are widespread, even among the British, the Canadians, and others who share with Americans both a cultural heritage and an economic stake in globalization. Here the author has also pointed out various threats to American society to include immigration and cultural both.      

h.            Chapter 8 – Acting Together or Alone. In this chapter the difference of opinion between the Americans and the contemporary nations on international issues have been discussed. The American foreign policy adopted especially after 9/11 has been cricised being one of the major cause of Americans dislike around the globe. The role of US as internationalist acting as unilaterally in the sole pursuit of its own narrow interest has remained the mainstay of discission of the autor. The consequences of unilateral approach adopted by the American government on various world issues has been taken as a reference to generate a discussion as to adopt a unilateral or multilateral approach.

j.          Chapter 9 – Use of Force.            The criticism to the American concept of use of force has been high lighted in this chapter. Here the author has given the Americans views on use of force without obtaining the UN approval. International surveys find Americans are among the people most inclined to favor military force as a way of dealing with global coflict. There seems a clear disagreement between Americans and Europeans about the use of force. The weakness of UNO has also come to the lime light wherein it failed to stop America from waging war against Iraq.

k.         Chapter 10 – Two Americas, One American.  In this last part of the book, the author has given out the political divisions amongst the Americans which have, as per the author, sharpened in the recent years. The gaps between American political parties on issues such as the war on terrorism and the use of force are greater than in any earlier period covered by systematic polling.

5.         Opinion About the Book. The best aspect of the book is the statistical coverage given by the author to deal with the subject. The author has made an effort to give different attitudes of American society and the society fabric is different from the rest of the world. The role of public opinion, especially in US, have emerged a new power in international politics, having lasting impact on shaping the policy parameters for policy makers.

6.            Recommendations. The book gives good accounts of interrelation between American exceptionalism and anti – Americanism. It gives a sound foundation for dwelling the studies on this subject, hence recommended for study.