A decade after the cold war ended, policy makers and academics foresaw a new era of peace and prosperity, an era in which democracy and open trade would herald the "end of history." The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, sadly shattered these idyllic illusions, and John Mearsheimer's masterful new book explains why these harmonious visions remain utopian. To Mearsheimer, great power politics are tragic because the anarchy of the international system requires states to seek dominance at one another's expense, dooming even peaceful nations to a relentless power struggle. Mearsheimer illuminates his theory of offensive realism through a sweeping survey of modern great power struggles and reflects on the bleak prospects for peace in Europe and northeast Asia, arguing that the United States's security competition with a rising China will intensify regardless of "engagement" policies. "This is the definitive work on offensive realism."-Choice
- ISBN10 039332396X
- ISBN13 9780393323962
- Publish Date 8 April 2011 (first published 10 April 2002)
- Publish Status Inactive
- Out of Print 25 April 2014
- Publish Country US
- Imprint WW Norton & Co
- Format Paperback
- Pages 576
- Language English