"A provocative case for why a better world is only possible with American power by Washington Post columnist Shadi Hamid.
From acclaimed author Shadi Hamid comes an urgent and deeply personal argument for why American dominance, despite its many flaws, remains the world's best hope. Hamid traces his journey from opposing America's role in the world to reluctantly embracing it—while grappling with how recent events, from Russia's invasion of Ukraine to Israel's devastating war in Gaza, have challenged his convictions.
Drawing on his unique perspective as both an American and a Muslim who came of age in the shadow of the September 11 attacks, Hamid contends with the contradictions of American power: how a nation founded on moral purpose so often fails to live up to its ideals. Hamid confronts head-on America's failures, from the war in Iraq to support for authoritarian regimes across the Middle East. Yet, he argues that in a world where power is a fact and someone must wield it, the alternative to American leadership isn't a morally perfect superpower—it's the brutal authoritarianism of countries like China and Russia.
At once idealistic and pragmatic, this is a book about embracing our power as the only moral option in a world beset by tragedy. Because America is a democracy, it retains the potential to correct past mistakes and change for the better. That part is up to us. Bracing and timely, The Case for American Power is an ambitious work on what may be the most fundamental question facing America today: How should we think about the power we have—while we still have it?"
"What happens when democracy produces 'bad' outcomes? Is democracy good because of its outcomes or despite them? This 'democratic dilemma' is one of the most persistent, vexing problems for America abroad, particularly in the Middle East—we want democracy in theory but not necessarily in practice.
When Islamist parties rise to power through free elections, the United States has too often been ambivalent or opposed, preferring instead pliable dictators. With this legacy of democratic disrespect in mind, and drawing on new interviews with top American officials, Shadi Hamid explores universal questions of morality, power, and hypocrisy. Why has the United States failed so completely to live up to its own stated ideals in the Arab world? And is it possible for it to change?
In The Problem of Democracy, Hamid offers an ambitious reimagining of this ongoing debate and argues for 'democratic minimalism' as a path to resolving democratic dilemmas in the Middle East and beyond. In the seemingly eternal tension between democracy and liberalism, recognized by the ancient Greeks and the American founders alike, it may be time to prioritize one over the other, rather than acting as if the two are intertwined when increasingly they are not."
