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THE OPPORTUNITY: AMERICA'S MOMENT TO ALTER HISTORY'S COURSE
By: Richard N. Haass
"Haass has presented an agenda for US foreign policy that is realistic, constructive, and conservative in the old sense." New York Review of Books
PublicAffairs
March 2005
242 pages
ISBN: 1586482769
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
"Since the end of the Cold War, the country has searched for an integrating concept for the new conditions, a role performed for a generation by Kennan's containment theory. With The Opportunity, Richard Haass has undertaken to close this gap with imagination and insight. It is an important book for any period." -Henry Kissinger This is a book that describes an unprecedented moment in which the United States has a chance to bring about a world where most people are safe, free, and can enjoy a decent standard of living. The principal reason the 21st century shows such promise is that the potential for armed conflict involving today's major powers is remote. This remarkable development reflects not just U.S. military and economic might but also the assessment that much of what the United States seeks to achieve in the world has the potential to be broadly acceptable to others. But the combination of these circumstances will not stay unchanged. Like all great moments, it will pass. If we are not careful, the world could see its energies diverted by a new cold war - or, even worse, descend into anarchy defined by terrorism, disease, the spread of nuclear weapons, genocide, and extreme poverty. More than anything else, it will be how well and how wisely the United States uses its immense power that will determine the future. The United States does not need the world's permission to act, but it does need the world's support to succeed. What will it take to get the world's support? The answer to this question is what makes The Opportunity truly vital reading. Richard Haass provides a much-needed foreign policy compass, one with the potential to do for this post- Cold War, post-9/11, post-Iraq world what George Kennan's containment doctrine did for the previous era.
 Media BuzzTalk of the Nation - July 17, 2006
Weekend Edition Saturday - November 12, 2005
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