The Future of Power

“Nye is a master of his field at the height of his power.” 

“An illuminating distillation of the power relationships shaping a world in which the state with the best military can lose to the adversary with the better story . . . Nye makes sense of these new complexities.” 

“Whether it’s navigating the political waves of the Middle East or the diplomatic dance with China, [The Future of Power] offers a generous batch of insights. . . . Nye is a savvy and respected analyst, and he doesn’t disappoint here.” 

“Nye is the preeminent theorist of power in world affairs today, and this book is a grand synthesis of his ideas and an essential guide to the debate over the decline of the United States and the rise of China.” 

“Painstaking . . .Rigorous . . . Nye sets out a taxonomy of twenty-first-century power . . . casting doubt on the idea that America is in precipitate decline.” 

“As power moves from west to east and from the palaces of dictators to the street, it is not just the identities of power brokers that are changing: so is the very meaning of power. No one is better placed to explain these trends than the scholar‑statesman Joe Nye. . . . The Future of Power contains important essays on both ‘cyber power’ and ‘American decline,’ but what is most useful is Nye’s subtle exegesis of the mechanics of more conventional forms of power.” 

“Nye’s writing style is accessible even when his subject grows more complex. . . . A helpful primer to better understand the tools available to those formulating America’s foreign policy.” 

“While the British generally take a wary attitude to international gurus, it is worth bearing in mind that what Nye . . . think[s] today has a habit of becoming the global consensus tomorrow.” 

“A concise, forceful statement of what Nye refers to as the liberal realist position in the US academy and in US politics . . . [which] paints a plausible scenario for the continuance of the US at the heart of the international system.” 

“Joseph Nye is America’s foremost expert on the substance, diversity, uses, and abuses of power. He writes with insights that a president or secretary of state would find valuable, and makes foreign policy less foreign for every reader. If your goal is to understand world affairs in the twenty‑first century, there could be no better guide than The Future of Power.” 

“This brilliant book is the culmination of Joe Nye’s two decades of analysis of the nature of power in the world today. Power once came from controlling the sea lanes. In the future, Nye explains, it will come from the ability to navigate the information lanes of cyberspace and control the narrative that influences people. Sweeping in its themes but specific in its examples, this book is exciting to read and fascinating to contemplate.” 

“Brilliant and original . . . The best available comprehensive analysis of power in world politics.” 

“In this magisterial book Joseph Nye offers a highly readable synthesis of more than two decades of conceptually innovative scholarship. He provides an incisive probing of different types of power, analyzes transitions between states that rise and fall, and explores the diffusion of power away from state- to non-state actors. Nye’s liberal-realist strategy is persuasive: America can stem political decline and extend economic prosperity by adhering to a smart power strategy that refuses to seek primacy and prefers to be aligned with other nations. This book should become required reading for anybody who is interested in international affairs.” 

“Joseph Nye has crystallized decades of disciplined, pragmatic, and influential thinking about what power is and how it should be used. With his trademark combination of lucidity and persuasiveness, Nye has provided an antidote to apprehensions about newly powerful nations and fears about American decline.” 

“Illuminating . . . A substantial work that should be read by anyone with an interest in how politics works.”