This is a primer and a prescription for US and British foreign policy. It is one of the best books I've ever read. It reaches me and is in synch with how I view the world, albeit from a more professional, seasoned point of view.
In a very real sense this book is aimed at America. It is brimming with enlightened pragmatism and compassionate realism. It fairly drips with levelheaded wisdom, running off of every page beginning with the first page of the Introduction. Thatcher takes an unassuming, almost motherly, perhaps too forgiving view of how the West let its guard down in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.
She is unabashedly anti-communist and a devotee of President Ronald Reagan. She considers him to have been "the supreme architect of the West's Cold War victory" (10). In fact, she dedicated her book to him, "To whom the world owes so much." She believes "that Ronald Reagan and I spoke the same language (in every sense)" (7).
She has a deep love of America -- a connection -- what she calls "a certain idea of America" (20). This stems from her "consciousness of the underlying commonalities of the 'English-speaking world' and of its values" as well as the uniqueness of America and the English roots of that uniqueness. There is "an important truth about America -- namely that it is the most reliable force for freedom in the world, because the entrenched values of freedom are what make sense of its whole existence" (23). She quotes often and liberally from the Declaration of Independence.
Juxtaposed against this love for, and belief in, America is an overarching unilateralism and a resistance to political correctness. In this vein, she advises against making coalition-building a hard prerequisite. It depends on the situation, with America's best interests always paramount.
She has a wonderfully easy, fluid style -- erudite without being ostentatious. She summarizes at the end of most sections with bulletized recommendations. These succinctly capture the framework of her worldview. Borne of experience, they are clear enough to serve the amateur strategist as well as the seasoned diplomat. She shares her view of the world by taking us on a tour through regions, countries, hot spots, and individuals, with penetrating analysis and personal anecdotes.
We find, for example, that "China is one of two countries [to] have radically benefited in terms of the global power and importance from the end of the Cold War" (160), but the leadership in Beijing is fighting a delaying action. China is moving towards economic modernization, pulled inexorably by globalization. White it is a long way from becoming, and might never become, a Western-style democracy, it will become "at least a country whose population enjoy most of the benefits of freedom" (176). We will see a rising middle class, and the process will be facilitated by China's membership in the World Trade Organization. This can be seen in the experience of Hong Kong since transition. To maintain Hong Kong's economic vibrancy, Beijing cannot apply "coercive political measures." The reunification of Hong Kong, it seems to me, may prove to be the turning point, or at least acceleration, to a real "great leap forward."
Her insights are deep and broad, covering the spectrum of historical, political, military, and economic considerations; in each case, from the international level to the local. She has a fundamental faith in democracy and capitalism, but with an acceptance and understanding of the strength and benefits of cultural diversity as democracy and capitalism are practiced in different corners of the globe. She abhors communism, no matter what its nationality, with its totalitarian nature setting it apart from authoritarian regimes.
Her views on Europe are particularly interesting, and she goes into quite some detail about them. (Here she speaks primarily to Britain, not the US.) She sees the European Union as virtually inevitable, the idea being swept along with the currents of globalization, but she is very much against it. She's against surrendering British sovereignty. Moreover, she believes the EU will collapse of its own bureaucratic weight. In fact, there's nary any aspect of it that she thinks will work -- not its political cohesiveness, not a common currency, not its joint Rapid Reaction Force, etc. This is because the union is contrived -- an artificial construct of disparate elements with few if any common bonds.
Her path would be to negotiate a special framework for Britain within the EU -- one that would maintain (or restore) its sovereignty and control over its trade policy. If it cannot negotiate an acceptable set of membership conditions, Britain should "be prepared, if it became necessary, to unilaterally withdraw from EU membership" (402).
It would seem, of course, that the latter is what will come to pass if Prime Minister Tony Blair were to follow her advice since granting such special considerations -- special treatment -- would prove to be the undoing of the EU. (I suppose one could argue that the EU would do whatever it takes to keep Britain in, including a longer transition for Britain even it if meant a longer transition for other member nations, especially if she's correct that the EU needs Britain more than Britain needs the EU (397).)
One alternative to the EU, she suggests, is that Britain join NAFTA (which she would re-christen the North Atlantic Free Trade Area). Interesting thought. She's convinced it would be good for all involved. Anyway, her views and recommended actions reflect her faith in free market capitalism, which, in turn, reflects her faith in the collective intelligence and ingenuity of people.
Thatcher is a Reaganite, through and through, and like President Reagan accomplished during his administration, her book makes one feel good about America. Left-wingers likely will find much to criticize in it, but most of us will find much to cheer. A resounding five stars.
