The Four Tests: What It Will Take to Keep America Strong and Good

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

A lucidly argued (Kirkus Reviews), illuminating, and ultimately optimistic roadmap for Americas future and the tests the United States must meet to maintain leadership and power in the 21st centuryfrom the former US Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

In todays fraught global and political climate, the assumption that America maintains its dominant status in global politics is waning. The divisions between us, economic changes driven by globalization and technology, as well as climate change, pandemics, and the resurgence of authoritarianism, make it difficult to be optimistic about Americas future. But what if we use this moment as an opportunity to think about what might come next, and how to build what we need to succeed

If were going to allow ourselves to diagnose a polycrisis then we should also admit the possibility of polyprogress. This book is a roadmap for those who want to take Americas challenges head on, and who hold on to the conviction that we can tackle them.

In The Four Tests, Baer argues that we are living through a transition moment and lays out the four tests we must meet:

-Scale: Can the US maintain enough scaleor create a facsimile of it through deeper partnerships with friends and alliesas China and other countries continue to rise
-Investment: Can the US muster and effectively direct resources toward investments, particularly investments in people, to lay a foundation for American success in the post-industrial economy
-Fairness: Can the US address unfairnesses in its economy and society so that they dont stifle growth and undermine social cohesion in a more competitive world
-Identity: Can Americans build a thin but shared political identity, inclusive of every American, that can hold us together and help us work together in a difficult global landscape

While each test poses significant challenges, the US has advantages that some of our most vexing competitors lack. Meeting these tests demands changes in behavior and culturefrom politicians, corporate leaders, and citizens. But if we meet these tests, then we can be confident of Americas future. The question is not whether we can succeedbut whether we will.

Straightforward and hopeful, Baers pragmatic approach will provide fodder for discussion for Trump-supporting aunts and their Elizabeth Warrenstan nephews far beyond the beltway.

Reviews

Neither alarmist nor complacent . . . Against a confluence of negative megatrends, Baers tests of what he calls scale, investment, fairness, and identity dont defy solution, but they resist easy ones. . . . Much to ponder in Baers lucidly argued platform. Kirkus Reviews
This is a book for those who still believein their fellow Americans, in our shared future, in what we can be and do together with patriotism, empathy, and hard work. Hillary Rodham Clinton
Daniel Baer has written a book that every American should read: The diagnostic manual for the engine of national strength. The Four Tests is an unflinching but hopeful manifesto for any citizen who wants to look clearly at ourselves and make practical choices for the future. Evan Osnos, author of Wildland: The Making of America's Fury
America works when Americans put in the work. In The Four Tests, Daniel Baer puts forward an ambitious agenda for building an America that is stronger, healthier, and more unitedagree or disagree, his ideas are worth engaging seriously. In a world where we face geopolitical threats from the likes of Xi, Putin, and Kim Jong Un, Baer makes a case for a new vision of American leadership. Ben Sasse, author of Them: Why We Hate Each Otherand How to Heal
Daniel Baer makes the very strong case that America can continue to compete and lead in this complex, challenging worldand that we can do so by committing anew to our people and our principles. The Four Tests is a must-read! Penny Pritzker, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce

Author Bio

Daniel Baeris senior vice president for policy research and director of the Europe Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He served in Governor John Hickenloopers cabinet as executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education from 2018 to 2019. Under President Obama, he was US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) from 2013 to 2017. Previously, he was a deputy assistant secretary of state for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor from 2009 to 2013. Before his government service, Baer was an assistant professor at Georgetowns McDonough School of Business, a faculty fellow at Harvards Safra Center for Ethics, and a project leader at the Boston Consulting Group. He has appeared on CNN, FOX, MSNBC, BBC, PBS Frontline, Al Jazeera, Sky, andThe Colbert Report. His writing has appeared inThe Washington Post,The Wall Street Journal,Politico,Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and numerous other publications. He holds a doctorate in international relations from Oxford, where he was a Marshall Scholar, and a degree in social studies and African American studies from Harvard. He is married to Brian Walsh, an economist at the World Bank.