The Breaking Of Nations

Plot

In The Breaking of Nations, Robert Cooper shows that the key question confronting postmodern states is how they should deal with a world in which missiles and terrorists ignore borders and where the certainties of the Cold War alliances no longer exist. He argues that Europeans have to be prepared to use the rougher methods of an earlier era - force, pre-emptive attack, deception - if they are serious about safeguarding what they have achieved. He also articulates a doctrine of co-operative imperialism and underlines the moral values that lie behind foreign policy choices.