Abstract
‘May you live in interesting times’ may seem an innocuous and even benevolent wish. The 2010s are nothing if not interesting times, given the explosion of new technologies (think of 3-D printing and the internet of things), path-breaking business models (such as Google or Alibaba) and predictions of a global power shift. Yet, the ‘interesting times’ aspiration one might offer another actually originated as a Chinese curse, used to damn its recipient to endure uncertain and dangerous times. In Chinese culture, which has been influenced by the enormous and painful upheavals that have historically beset the world’s largest civilization, it is obvious why the phrase ‘may you live’ might be a curse. That the phrase loses a great deal of true meaning in its translation to English might be viewed as a metaphor for how international relations (IR) are in transition. By one view, enormous, uncertain, dangerous and potentially painful consequences loom for the international order. Alternatively, changes afoot internationally could lead to a more prosperous, interconnected and harmonious international society.
I am grateful to Nathalie Tocci for valuable comments on the early drafts of this chapter.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Baldwin, R., & Evenett, S. (2009). The collapse of global trade, murky protectionism and the crisis: Recommendations for the G20. London: Centre for Economic Policy Research.
Bickerton, C., Hodson, D., & Puetter, U. (Eds.). (2015). The new intergovernmentalism: European integration in the post-Maastricht era. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.
Bouchard, C., Peterson, J., & Tocci, N. (Eds.). (2014). Multilateralism in the 21st century: Europe’s quest for effectiveness. London/New York: Routledge.
Brooks, S. G., & Wohlforth, W. (2008). World out of balance: International relations and the challenge of American primacy. Princeton/London: Princeton University Press.
Deutsch, K. W., Burell, S. A., Kann, R. A., Lee, J., Lichterman, M., Lindgren, R. E., Loewenheim, F. L., & Van Wagenen, R. W. (1957). Political community and the North Atlantic area: International organization in the light of historical experience. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Gates, R. (2014). Duty: Memoirs of a secretary at war. London: W H Allen.
Hacker, S., & Pierson, P. (2010). Winner take-all politics: How Washington made the richer richer and turned its back on the middle class. New York/London: Simon and Schuster.
Ikenberry, G. J. (2014a). The illusion of geopolitics: The enduring power of the liberal order. Foreign Affairs, 93(3), 80–90.
Ikenberry, G. J. (2014b). Power, order, and change in world politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kupchan, C. A. (2002). The end of the American era: US foreign policy and the geopolitics of the 21st century. New York: Knopf.
Kupchan, C. A. (2012). No one’s world. The West, the rising rest, and the coming global turn. New York: Oxford University Press.
Laïdi, Z. (2012). Limited achievements: Obama’s foreign policy. Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Lane, P. R. (2012). The European sovereign debt crisis. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 26(3), 49–68.
Layne, C. (2012). US decline. In M. Cox & D. Stokes (Eds.), US foreign policy. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.
Leonard, M. (2005). Why Europe will run the 21st century. London/New York: Fourth Estate.
Luce, E. (2012). Time to start thinking: America and the spectre of decline. London: Little Brown.
Mann, J. (2012). The Obamians: The struggle inside the White House to redefine American power. London/New York: Penguin.
Mann, T., & Ornstein, N. (2012). It’s even worse than it looks: How the American constitutional system collided with the new politics of extremism. New York: Basic Books.
McCormick, J. (2007). The European superpower. Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Mead, W. R. (2014). The return of geopolitics: The revenge of the revisionist powers. Foreign Affairs, 93(3), 69–79.
Mearsheimer, J. (1990). Back to the future: Instability in Europe after the Cold War. International Security, 15(1), 5–56.
Mearsheimer, J., & Walt, S. (2007). The Israeli lobby and US foreign policy. London: Allen Lane.
Nasr, A. (2013). The dispensable nation: American foreign policy in retreat. New York/London: Doubleday.
Packer, G. (2013). The unwinding: An inner history of the New America. London: Faber & Faber.
Panetta, L. (2014). Worthy fights: A memoir of leadership in war and peace. New York/London: Penguin.
Peterson, J., & Müftüler-Baç, M. (2014). Global governance: Promise, patterns, prospects (Transworld working paper 39). http://www.transworld-fp7.eu/?p=1591
Peterson, J., & Pollack, M. A. (2003). Europe, America, Bush. London/New York: Routledge.
Peterson, J., & Shackleton, M. (Eds.). (2012). The institutions of the European Union (3rd ed.). Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.
Peterson, J., Doherty, R., Van Cutsem, M., Wallace, H., Epstein, R., Burwell, F., & Quinlan, J. P. (2005). Review of the framework for relations between the European Union and the United States—An independent study. Brussels: European Commission.
Rifkin, J. (2004–2005). The European dream: How Europe’s vision of the future is quietly eclipsing the American dream. New York/Cambridge: Tarcher and Polity.
Risse, T. (2009). Social constructivism and European integration. In A. Wiener & T. Diez (Eds.), European integration theory (2nd ed.). Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.
Rommerskirchen, C. (2014). All together now? The European Union’s contribution to fiscal multilateralism in the G20. In C. Bouchard, J. Peterson, & N. Tocci (Eds.), Multilateralism in the 21st century: Europe’s quest for effectiveness. London/New York: Routledge.
Sharma, R. (2012). Broken BRICs: Why the rest stopped rising. Foreign Affairs, 91(6), 2–7.
Steffenson, R. (2005). Managing EU-US relations: Actors, institutions and the new transatlantic agenda. Manchester/New York: Manchester University Press.
Wade, R. H. (2011). Emerging world order? From multipolarity to multilateralism in the G20, the World Bank and IMF. Politics and Society, 39(3), 347–378.
Waltz, K. N. (2000a). NATO expansion: A realist’s view. Contemporary Security Policy, 21(2), 23–38.
Waltz, K. N. (2000b). Structural realism after the Cold War. International Security, 25(1), 5–41.
Wolfers, A. (1962). Discord and Collaboration. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Peterson, J. (2016). Introduction: Where Things Stand and What Happens Next. In: Alcaro, R., Peterson, J., Greco, E. (eds) The West and the Global Power Shift. Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57486-2_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57486-2_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-57485-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-57486-2
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)