The Accidental Superpower: Ten Years On

The United States made a bold strategic gambit near the end of the Second World War, abolishing empires and replacing them with a global arrangement enforced by the U.S. Navy. This system is not normal and is on borrowed time, as geography is eroding the American commitment to free trade, aging into a mass retirement, and the American economy is rapidly approaching energy independence. This factors are overturning the global system and ushering in a new (dis)order, but the Americans are able to sidestep an increasingly dangerous energy market due to the shale revolution and their youth population. Geography will matter more than ever in a de-globalizing world, and America's geography is simply sublime.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 432 pages
Publication date: 25 January 2024
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company

Near the conclusion of the Second World War, the United States undertook a audacious strategic maneuver that fundamentally reconfigured the global order. Empires were dismantled and supplanted by a global arrangement enforced by the U.S. Navy. For the first time in human history, the world's oceans became safe, unlocking markets and resources for all. Enemies transformed into partners.

We perceive this system as ordinary, but it is not. We inhabit an artificial world on borrowed time.

In "The Accidental Superpower," international strategist Peter Zeihan delves into how the rigid contours of geography are eroding the American commitment to free trade, the extent to which the planet is entering a mass retirement phase that will deplete markets and capital supplies, and how, against all odds, the ever-voracious American economy is rapidly approaching energy independence. Collectively, these factors are poised to upend the global order and usher in a new (dis)order.

For most, this development represents a catastrophic scenario, yet it holds different implications for the United States. The shale revolution grants Americans the ability to evade an increasingly perilous energy market. Moreover, the United States possesses a youthful population large enough to evade the gravitational pull of global aging. Most significantly, in a de-globalizing world, geography will assume heightened importance, and America's geography is truly exceptional.

Weight: 458g
Dimension: 153 x 229 x 32 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781538767344