Dilemmas of Domination: The Unmaking of the American Empire

About the Author Walden Bello is a human rights and peace campaigner, academic, environmentalist and journalist who has made a major contribution to the international case against corporate-driven globalization. He is currently the Executive Director of Focus on the Global South, as well as an adjunct professor of sociology at the State University of New York, Binghamton. He was formerly a member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, and has previously held positions at the University of the Philippines, UCLA, and the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam. His previous books include Dilemmas of Domination: the Unmaking of the American Empire (Zed 2005), and Capitalism's Last Stand? Deglobalization in the Age of Austerity (Zed 2013). Product Description The empire seems unassailable, but the empire is weak - and precisely because of its imperial ambitions. Walden Bello dissects the dilemmas confronting America in its quest for global domination. Despite the enormity of the U.S. defence budget, American forces are already overextended - and will become more so as each local 'victory' breeds simmering resistance. The empire faces looming economic breakdown, the result of its gargantuan military costs, record-breaking budget deficits, and exploitative trade and investment relations. On the political front, bitter disillusionment is spreading in response to America's failure to champion liberal democracy, crony capitalism and gross inequalities of income.Dilemmas of Domination reveals a not-too-distant future in which the empire's hidden weaknesses will yield fatal challenges to American supremacy. Review “Walden Bello is the world's best guide to American exploitation of the globe's poor and defenceless -- and the false concepts the U.S. government uses to camouflage it actions. He directly challenges the propaganda and the policies of the Washington establishment with an analysis that is both original and persuasive.” ―Chalmers Johnson, author of The Sorrows of Empire“Dilemmas of Domination show again why Walden Bello is recognized as one of the leading global analysts of the U.S. drive toward empire. His critique of the Afghan and Iraq wars probes the dangers of the Bush administration's militarism yet recognizes the potential of the growing peace movement . His dissection of the Asian dimension is particularly comprehensive and welcome. And, rooting American bellicosity in the corporate-driven trajectory of globalization, Bello's economic analysis remains among the most prescient. A must-read for scholars, activists and global citizens.” ―Phyllis Bennis, author of Before & After: U.S. Foreign Policy and the September 11 Crisis“With unsentimental clarity, Walden Bello speaks the truth about American empire and why it is doomed by its own contradictions.” ―William Greidner, author of The Soul of Capitalism