The Grand Chessboard by Zbigniew Brzezinski

Résumé du document

Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Carter's Security Adviser between 1977 and 1981, is currently a member of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is also a Professor at Johns Hopkins University and used to teach at Harvard and Columbia.

‘The Grand Chessboard – American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives' was published in 1997. It is one of the most important books of international relations published after the end of the Cold War. Brzezinski's approach is different from Fukuyama's and Huntington's. According to Francis Fukuyama, the end of the Cold War is also the end of history (The End of History and the Last Man, 1992) because it generates a remarkable consensus concerning the legitimacy of liberal democracy as a system of government.

This is not the point of view of Samuel P. Huntington, who still considers the contemporary world as conflictual; instead of USA vs. USSR, it is going to be the West vs. the Islamic and Confucian world. Brzezinski does not try to describe the hypothetical new nature of international relations. His ambition is much more pragmatic.

“The defeat and collapse of the Soviet Union was the final step in the rapid ascendance of a Western Hemisphere power, the United States, as the sole and, indeed, the first truly global power [...]. It is imperative that no Eurasian challenger emerges, capable of dominating Eurasia and thus of also challenging America. The formulation of a comprehensive and integrated Eurasian geostrategy is therefore the purpose of this book.”

This thesis is presented in the introduction. It is then developed in six chapters. The first chapter presents the characteristics of the American hegemony, which is a “hegemony of a new type”. The second chapter depicts “the Eurasian chessboard”. The third chapter qualifies Western Europe as “the democratic bridgehead”. The fourth chapter shows “the black hole” left by the collapse of the Soviet Union. The fifth chapter presents the geopolitical stakes of “the Eurasian Balkans”. The final chapter presents the US need for “the Far Eastern anchor”.

Tags: Francis Fukuyama,Zbigniew Brzezinski, ‘The Grand Chessboard – American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives'

Extraits

[...] The US on the Grand Chessboard: the central role A. The US as the only global power Superpowers in history Brzezinski wants to show that the US is the first global superpower, even if some superpowers existed before. The Roman Empire and the Chinese Empire were only local superpowers, based on very sophisticated economic and political structures. These Empires used to be acknowledged for their cultural domination. The Mongol Empire was very close to become a global power. But the lack of cultural domination prevented it from achieving this goal. [...]

[...] The formulation of a comprehensive and integrated Eurasian geostrategy is therefore the purpose of this book.” This thesis is presented in the introduction. It is then developed in six chapters. The first chapter presents the characteristics of the American hegemony, which is a “hegemony of a new type”. The second chapter depicts Eurasian chessboard”. The third chapter qualifies Western Europe as democratic bridgehead”. The fourth chapter shows black hole” left by the collapse of the Soviet Union. The fifth chapter presents the geopolitical stakes of Eurasian Balkans”. The final chapter presents the US need for Far Eastern anchor”. [...]

[...] Germany is an even more loyal ally, almost a vassal in Brzezinski's mind. In addition, collaboration with Germany is necessary regarding the enlargement to Eastern Europe because of a traditional German influence on Central Europe. Are we attending a change in this situation? Indeed, Gerardt Schröeder has shown strong opposition to the US Iraqi policy. The NATO has to be enlarged if the US wants to strengthen its military domination in Europe. The American policy in Far East The US must combine two different types of alliances. [...]

[...] Conclusion The Grand Chessboard has often been criticised, and not only from an academic point of view. This book is supposed to be the perfect manual of American imperialism. Indeed, Zbigniew Brzezinski does not hide its opinion: the US should dominate the world. At least is he honest enough to tell things the way they are. Nevertheless, The Grand Chessboard remains a reference book of international relations with an accurate analysis of global stakes. It also avoids the contemporary temptation of forgetting geographical realities, supposedly vanished because of globalization. [...]

[...] “Hence, support for the new post-Soviet states geopolitical pluralism in the space of the former soviet Empire- has to be an integral part of a policy designed to induce Russia to exercise unambiguously its European option.” Brzezinski also writes about US economic interests; pipelines should not go through the Russian territory anymore. B. Containing more stable powers The American policy in Europe The EU still depends on the US, mainly regarding defence. Nevertheless, the US should have a real partnership with the EU. These two statements seem paradoxical. [...]