The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers

(Paperback)

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This study describes how the past 500 years shows that nations which became great powers had to decline as their growth rate slowed and their spending on defence continued to increase and explains how this can be eased or worsened by clever or short-sighted policy decisions. The final chapter looks at the current dilemna of the USA, the USSR, the EEC, Japan and China, and peers. Paul Kennedy also wrote "Strategy and Diplomacy, 1870-1945" and "The Realities Behind Diplomacy, 1865-1980"

Reviews

A brilliantly original bookIt is intended for the intelligent layman as well as the academic historian, combining in Toynbee-esque manner the sweeping conception with careful attention to historical detail Financial Times

This book is falling out of briefcases all over Washington DC, both because it looks and sounds erudite and because it purports to answer an increasingly common question: Has the United States already embarked on its journey into the sunset of empire It is administering a lot of frissons to trend-watchers Christopher Hitchens

OutstandingHe ranges across five centuries and around the whole world. He seems to have read every relevant book in every possible language. And he has produced a general argument so deceptively simple that no politician, however busy, should ignore or misunderstand it Observer

One of the masterpieces of modern historical writing Daily Telegraph

A masterpiece of exposition. It is erudite and elegantly written New Society

A remarkable booklong, clever, often funny, and crammed with remarkable insights; it is tinged with the genius that unravels complexity Evening Standard

Shows a master historians ability to use evidence like a boxing champions uppercut TES

One of those rare (and irresistible) books which successfully combine the scope and sweep of popular history with the discriminating rigour of professional historiography, making it both a bloody good read and a thought-provoking one Listener

Author Bio

Paul Kennedy is Professor of History and Director of International Security Studies, and is also co-director, with Bruce Russett, of the Secretariat to the Independent Working Group on the future of the United Nations, an international commission which is producing a report for the Secretary General entitled The United Nations in its Second Half Century. He also co-ordinates the Olin Foundation Fellowship Program in Military and Strategic History, the Bradley Foundation annual lecture series and conferences on military and diplomatic history, the Bradley Foundation Scholarships in Diplomatic and International History and the Smith Richardson Foundation Programme on the Historical Roots of Contemporary International and Regional Issues. With Professor Bruce Russett he co-chairs the MacArthur Foundation program on Peace and International Co-operation. In addition to teaching an undergraduate course (Global Security Issues, Old and New) and with Bruce Russett, a graduate course (International Security Studies: Historical and Political Science Approaches) on the history of international security, he has begun research on a new book on the history of the United Nations. He continues to deliver numerous guest lectures and addresses worldwide, including a presentation to the Bruno Kreisky Forum in Vienna, and has received several honorary degrees in the past year. He is on the advisory boards of numerous journals and institutions.