Taming American Power: The Global Response to U.S. Primacy

Book Description

How firm is America's grasp on global supremacy?

The United States currently wields unprecedented global power. Americans often assume that their global role is benevolent and their dominant position unchallenged, but other states are increasingly worried about U.S. dominance and are beginning to turn their concerns into action.

In this elegant and provocative new book, Kennedy School professor and renowned scholar Stephen M. Walt analyzes the different strategies that states employ to counter U.S. power or to harness it for their own ends. These responses threaten America's ability to achieve its foreign policy goals and may eventually undermine its dominant position. To prevent this, Walt argues, the United States must adopt a foreign policy that other states welcome, rather than one that reinforces their fear of American power.

Customer Reviews:

fantasy-based.......2007-08-06

I'm going to explain why you should do the environmentally correct thing and not buy this book. To begin, it's pedantic and boring. The author spends several hundred pages explaining why other countries dislike American pre-eminence and how they resist it. Once you've read this, you'll be left with the empty feeling that there's nothing that you couldn't have thought of yourself.

So the first four chapters of the book, the why and how, are not worth reading. If you jump to the fifth chapter, you'll see the author's prescription for how to tame American power. He runs through a number of possibilities, but ends up with what he calls offshore balancing. He notes that this has been America's traditional grand strategy. The problem is that the traditional grand strategy left us with September 11th, 2001. I'm not the first to note that the author does not deal well with the threat that became obvious to the U.S. on September 11th.

But even his reapplication of the grand strategy is based on false premises. Here's a quote. "--- new WMD states will go to great lengths to make sure that their arsenals do not find their way into terrorists' hands. No foreign government is going to give up the weapons they need for deterrence and allow them to be used in ways that would place their own survival at risk." Although not a perfect counterexample, one need only point out the A Q Khan network in Pakistan. Further: "Yet the danger that rogue regimes will give away WMD is extremely remote. After incurring all the costs and risks of obtaining these weapons, would any leader either give or sell them to terrorists when he could not control how the terrorist might use them and could not be sure that the transfer would not be detected?" What repercussions has Pakistan incurred since the revelations that Khan game away its weapons technology to Libya and North Korea? None! Here's another nugget: "Had the Bush administration rejected preventive war in Iraq in March 2003, and chose instead to continue the U.N. mandated inspections process that was then under way, it would have scored a resounding diplomatic victory. The Bush team could claim could have claimed that the threat of U.S. military action had forced Saddam Hussein to resume inspections under new and more intrusive procedures. The U.N. inspectors would have determined that Iraq didn't have any WMD after all." This is utter fantasy; Hussein had rope-a-doped the inspections process for more than a decade. The paragraph within which this is contained contains much more fantasy.

Here's another interesting quote from chapter five: "The United States should not let its post-9/11 concern for homeland security interfere with the continued flow of foreign students to our colleges and universities." Only someone at a university would be foolish enough to make such a blanket statement.

Whether you agree or disagree with current American policy, this book is not worth your time or your dollars.

Learned, Low-Key, Somewhat Disappointing.......2006-10-05

I would not normally have bought this book, but the dogmatic criticisms of the work from what appear to be very angry Zionists compelled me to support the author and see for myself. I can certainly understand their objections: the author provides a very fine overview of how Israel has bonded and penetrated the U.S. Government at all levels including junior staff levels in both Congress and the Executive, and how this, in combination with what I consider to be an unholy alliance with the Christian Zionists (the author names Gary Bauer, Jerry Fallwell, Ralph Reed, Pat Robertson, Tom Delay, and Richard Armey), has shifted U.S. policy between Palestine and Israel from being a balanced peacemaker to unleashing Israel and not holding it accountable. The author is at his best when discussing how to cease our support for Israel if they cannot be sincere in seeking a two-state or shared state solution. The author does not, as far as I could see, discuss the complete failure of the Arab nations to provide support to Palestine where it counts: aid, passports, land rights, etcetera.

On balance I was somewhat disappointed. The book is a tour de force at a very high level, but it is rather simplified, primarily state centric, an executive summary of a great deal of the literature, but missing important slices of the broader literature. Nothing here about the ten threats, twelve policies, or eight challengers.

The author does well at making the point that it is US actions, not US values, that are the catalyst for attacks, and he is quite explicit in discussing how specific terrorists attacks follow consistently from some specific US action in the Middle East. He lists the problems with US Foreign Policy, including double standards, short attention span, historical amnesia, and ambivalence about respect for international law, but there is not as much substance in this book as in, for example, David Boren's edited book on "Preparing American Foreign Policy for the 21st Century"--see my review for an 18 point summary--nor is there the fullest possible discussion of grand strategy. The author breaks new ground in defining strategies of opposition and strategies of accommodation (mostly state-centric) but all things being equal, I think Colin Gray's "Modern Strategy" is better.

The author is at pains to state that pro-Israel organizations, but not most American Jews themselves, egged the Administration on toward the elective invasion and occupation of Iraq. He tries very hard to be politically correct, to the point that the scholarship is weakened--note 97 on page 283, for example, avoids stating the obvious and documenting Greg Palast's "Best Democracy Monday Can Buy" case, i.e. that George Bush stole the Florida election in 2000.

The author touches lightly on the reality that you cannot do public diplomacy using dogma and propaganda--it must be based on substance, and he correctly identifies education as the key--something the Broadcasting Board of Governors not only does not understand, but they are actively keeping their head in the sand while the battle rages over where the Open Source Agency will be (in the spy world or in the diplomatic world).

Just when I thought the author was going to reach a cresendo, after a review of Joe Nye's soft power ideas, stating that no other state is capable of withstanding the full weight of US power, I ended up with a cream pull. No real discussion of how that full weight can be defined and manifested.

See also my reviews of Derek Leebaert's "The Fifty Year Wound," Jonathan Schell's "Unconquerable World," Chalmers Johnson's "Sorrows of Empire," Robert McNamara and James Blight "Wilson's Ghost," Tom Hammes "The Sling and the Stone," and Mark Hertsgaard's "The Eagle's Shadow," among many many other books.

The Taming of the Shrew.......2006-07-20

"'Taming American Power' - Why would one like to do that?" This seems to be the standard tongue-in-cheek reaction one gets from a fellow American student who has spotted the reviewer reading Stephen Walt's latest book. Granted, it is a bit hard to swallow Walt's line of argument at first. As the author, academic dean of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, himself admits, "by virtually any measure, the United States enjoys an asymmetry of power unseen since the emergence of the modern state system." And more than that: It is highly likely that it will remain the most powerful player in the international system for some time to come. So who would go about trying to tie down this omnipotent Gulliver? Walt does a good job in pointing out that reactions from across the world to America's "primacy" position (the author defines this as "being first in order, importance, or authority") are often lukewarm at best - large parts of the population in the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and Asia do as a matter of fact detest everything the United States stands for. And even seemingly close allies in Europe and Asia look like they have lost their (Cold War-) love for Mr. Big.

But is it just the "rise in the power of [modern-day] Athens and the fear it causes in the world" that makes America so unloved at the present moment? According to Walt, who is a neo-realist at heart but doesn't shy away from making use of other theoretical models on the way, the answer to the question of "why they hate us" is not so much what America stands for, but what it has done in the past, especially ever since the George W. Bush Administration took office in 2001. But his seminal book is more than just one of the many polemics on the current executive. It is a lucid, and often provocative, account of the current problems U.S. public diplomacy faces in the world. It is a profound analysis of the way states deal with American power, something that "has become an essential element of statecraft for every country in the world." More importantly, Walt gives clear recommendations for policy action as well, something that is so often missing from comparable works.

The author starts by shedding light on how the U.S. got into the position it is recently in. How did the "preponderance of power" (Melvin Leffler) come about? Walt attributes geography, shrewd diplomacy, but also pure luck for the unique situation America is in now. Starting with the end of the Cold War (here an analysis of earlier developments such as the Spanish-American War might have brought further insights) Walt goes through the development in the growth of U.S. influence and primacy. He then sets out to analyze the difference in perception the United States has of itself and that other states have of it. Americans and their political leaders are quite often ignorant of the fact that their country is not well liked in other parts of the world. Worse than that: On a regular basis, they simply do not care about other states' opinions. Walt considers the various strategies that states use if they indeed intend to oppose U.S. primacy. Balancing ("soft balancing" with other states or "internal balancing" on their own), balking (foot-dragging), binding (using norms and institutions), blackmail (threatening to take some undesirable action unless the U.S. offers compensation), and delegitimation (portraying the U.S. as morally bankrupt) are the various means that states put to use, very often in combination with each other and during different time periods. Although theses categories have large explanative value per se, it is however not quite clear whether they really cover the entire spectrum of political action. For example, a state could just refuse to hear what the U.S. has to say, thereby falling under none of the above categories.

But what if a state decides to go along with U.S. primacy? According to Walt, it can then either bandwagon (appease), follow a regional balancing strategy (use the U.S. to balance against neighboring states), bond with (establish close personal ties) or try and penetrate American politics (manipulate the U.S. domestic political system). But here, too, other categories seem to exist. A state can for example go along with U.S. policies while at the same time thinking very little of the nation's administration or even its president. The relationship between former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter serves as a prime example.

It is at this point that Walt gets to the heart of his controversial reasoning. He lays out an argument against political pressure groups and ethnic lobbyist movements - in itself not necessarily a new argument. Yet although he also talks about the Indian and Armenian lobby groups, his main thrust is directed against the various kinds of Israeli groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA). He blames them for having an undue influence and for pursuing a national interest that is "national" only in Israeli, not in American terms. Yet his argument about the "power of the weak" rings a bit hollow and is only thinly veiled by devoting very few pages to the Indian and the Armenian case. Although Walt rightly states that a solution to the problems of the Middle East is essential to "win the hearts and minds" of the Muslim world and to achieve one of the main objectives of U.S. foreign policy, he walks on thin ice when he makes sweeping statements about the influence of the Israel lobby in the United States such as "Israel is the `gold standard' by which transnational penetration should be judged." Granted, the road for the solution of the Israel-Palestinian problem did not "lead through Baghdad" - U.S. involvement in Iraq turned into a quagmire situation, as Walt rightly points out. But does it really lead through K Street in Washington, D.C.? This seems hardly likely. Lobbies are influential, especially in the United States, but they surely cannot be the sole explanatory variable for why America has so many problems with public opinion in the world.

Bearing these caveats in mind, Walt is at his best when he comes to the actual policy recommendations in the last part of his book. Most importantly, he states, U.S. foreign policy "must be molded with [other states'] reactions in mind." Although this might sound like a truism to European ears, it is something that has not always been at the center of the U.S. foreign policy decision making process. There is hope, however: Consulting with allies and taking their opinions into consideration seems to have been taken up by the current U.S. administration recently - just look at the State Department's new efforts in "transformational diplomacy", increased student exchange and language learning. Walt also makes the important point that the strategy of "pre-emption" - which really is just another word for "preventive war" when the Bush administration uses it - must be abolished at earliest convenience if the U.S. doesn't want to ruin relations with the rest of the world in the long run. For large parts of the global public (especially the European part of it), this seems to be a matter of highest urgency.

The drawback of Taming American Power is that its analysis is extremely state-centered. It is perfectly alright to view states as the principal actors in international relations, but even the most hard-boiled realists will have to acknowledge that the U.S. will increasingly have to deal with non-state actors such as al-Qaeda in the future. Also, Walt seems to be a bit too sympathetic to John Mearsheimer's theory of "offensive Realism" to make it fit with his call for a "mature U.S. foreign policy" that takes the opinions of others into account when pursuing policy goals. It is because of theses inconsistencies that Walt's analysis can only serve as a starting point. But it is a good starting point and leads into the right direction. Therefore, it can be recommended highly.

Methodologically and Substantively Weak.......2005-12-28

Taming American Power is a book about relations between and among states. Walt's starting point is a wide-ranging description of the sources and manifestations of American primacy. Then, in the most insightful part of the book ("The Roots of Resentment"), he does a superlative job of describing the ways that others see America and why their perceptions differ from how we picture ourselves. The following two chapters discuss the strategies foreign governments employ in their relations with an America that is much more powerful than they are. These strategies fall into two broad categories - opposition and accomodation, each of which is broken down into several sub-categories. In the final chapter, Walt sets forth a foreign policy that he believes would be in our national interest.

Neo-Realism In an Era of Terrorism

In my view, Walt has considerable difficulty fitting al Qaeda and other Islamic terror organizations into his conceptual framework. This is probably true for most or all neo-realists. A school of thought that has the balance of power as its foundational principle is ill-equipped to understand a world in which the primary security threat is from transnational, religiously-inspired terrorist groups. For the U.S. or any other country to base a foreign policy on the assumption that al Qaeda will respond to carrots and sticks in the same manner as states would be the height of folly.

Many more states are threatened by al Qaeda and/or al Qaeda-inspired terrorism than by aggression from another state. Given the nature of the threat and the unmatched strength of the U.S. military, balance of power theory, if it is to have any validity in the current era, would have to say that other states would have moved into ever-closer relationships with America in the years since 9/11. Except for heightened behind-the-scenes cooperation within the intelligence community, quite the reverse has happened. The counter-argument is that, as has been shown in several public opinion polls, many populations fear U.S. power more than terrorism - even if their governments do not. It would be absurd for America to assign a greater priority to appeasing foreign publics than to eliminating terrorists.

If al Qaeda and the like were not part of the equation, Walt's thesis - that the Bush Doctrine, because it has intensified anti-Americanism among peoples and governments, and allies and enemies - would have merit. But, not only is al Qaeda part of the equation, it is the most important part of the equation. Given that there is scant evidence that the policies of the Bush Administration has undermined relationships among intelligence organizations, it is far from clear that altering these policies in a manner that would lessen anti-Americanism would aid in the fight against al Qaeda. There may be - and, in my opinion, there is - a trade-off between improving our relations with foreign governments and our overseas approval ratings, and the efficacy of our efforts to defang the Islamic terrorists.

Islamic Terrorism

The most disturbing aspect of Walt's book is that it displays only a superficial understanding of the nature of the threat from Islamic terrorism. He does not mention the jihadis' long-term strategy of re-establishing the Caliphate and shows no evidence of having read Sayyid Qutb and other Islamist authors. Accordingly, he mistakes their tactics for their strategy. Not surprisingly, then, his policy recommendations are ill-conceived and, in my judgment, would facilitate rather than undermine their ability to achieve their objective.

As a result of his misperceptions, he believes that U.S. foreign policy, in general, and American support of Israel, in particular, are the root causes of the terrorists' antipathy toward us:

". . . international terrorists have not attacked the United States or its allies because they are opposed to U.S. values, or even primarily because they are worried about U.S. power. Instead, they have targeted the United States because they oppose its global military presence and the policies that presence is supporting." (p. 87)

"Although bin Laden is sometimes critical of American culture, his actions throughout his career have been inspired primarily by opposition to the specific policies of particular states . . . Indeed, bin Laden emphasized in October 2004 that he and his followers were not at war against "freedom," which is why they did not strike countries like Sweden." (p. 85)

"U.S. Middle East policy is one of the main reasons why terrorists like Osama bin Laden want to attack the United States . . . Even worse, America's tacit (and, at times, active) support for Israeli expansionism makes bin Laden and his ilk look like prophets and heroes rather than murderous criminals." (p. 234)

". . . if the United States can portray those who use terrorism as criminals driven largely by a selfish desire for power, then a terrorist campaign is likely to fail." (p. 138)

In addition to not appreciating the nature of the threat, he appears to underestimate its severity and potential impact on the U.S. How else can these words be explained?

(...)
The United Nations

Walt is a multilateralist with a high regard for the UN. Commenting on the run-up to the Iraq war, he says that

"America's opponents [in the Security Council] sought to prevent the use of force in this particular instance, while simultaneously strengthening the authority of the UN system." (p. 146)

There is an alternative perspective that I share: by not authorizing the use of force to punish a serial violator of Security Council resolutions, America's opponents weakened the UN, setting it on the same path as the ignominious road followed by the League of Nations.

(...)
As to winning the War on Terror, he believes that the necessary and seemingly sufficient condition is for the U.S. to lay it on the line with Israel:

"If the United States wants to win the war on terrorism, it must find a way to reverse the steady deterioration of its standing in this critical part [the Middle East] of the world . . . the United States should use its considerable leverage to bring the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to an end, [which includes pressuring Israel] to withdraw from virtually all territories it occupied in June 1967, in return for full peace. If Israel remains unwilling to grant the Palestinians a viable state . . . the United States should end its economic and military support . . . The United States will still support the continued existence of a Jewish state (the same way that we support a Norwegian state, a Thai state, a Polish state, etc.), and it would be prepared to help if Israel's survival were threatened." (...)

Bad advice.......2005-12-25

One reviewer of this book said that this book was a "recipe for appeasement" and that were the world to recommend genocide, or a return to slavery, that this book would imply that this ought to be America's policy! Well, is that reviewer right about this book?

After reading the book, I think the reviewer is right.

The author makes the point that opponents of the United States try to delegitimize us. He's right; they do. But the response to this ought to be to do what is best, not to appease our enemies. Appeasement generally makes matters worse for everyone. I think if we have the ability to support truth, justice, human rights, peace, and prosperity, we ought to do so, even if it may sometimes mean battling thugs and tyrants.

The portion of this book that I'm best able to judge is about Israel. I'm a Pagan and a Zionist. And the author does a bad job of describing America's informal alliance with Israel. He somewhat exaggerates the strength of the Israeli lobby here, and in addition, he makes it appear somewhat sinister, as if it were causing America to support policies that are against our own interests. In fact, it is very difficult for small nations to convince us to act against our interests. It is far easier for small nations to agree to do what we say (in an attempt to become or remain our allies) or for small nations to benefit from getting our support when America's enemies attack them.

Yes, the Israeli lobby has done well, but the main reason for this is that it has an excellent product to sell! Israel is a nation which is being attacked by some reactionary and racist thugs and tyrants. The nation most slandered by the United Nations and the international community is Israel. No wonder plenty of decent people find it easy to support it. The Israeli lobby isn't needed to convince most American opponents of all this slander and aggression. Walt does not mention any of this, of course.

There is a big difference between being in favor of human rights for all and supporting all policies of the State of Israel. Walt certainly agrees. But he implies that American Zionists tend to support the latter, not the former. And that's not true at all. There's plenty of opposition by Zionists to specific Israeli policies, and it is an anti-Zionist untruth to say that one can't object to Israeli government policies without running afoul of the Zionist lobby. Such excuses are often used by those who deny Israel's right to exist (presumably in order to deny human rights to Levantine Jews) and then try to say that they merely disagree with some policies of the Israeli government. In addition, Walt fails to discuss the extent to which some American Jews disagree not only with Israeli policies, but even with the idea that Israeli Jews ought not be denied human rights.

Walt implies that Israel wants "to impose an unjust solution unilaterally" to its dispute with the Arabs. That's ridiculous. If there is peace, Israel wins: it gets to stay on the map and prosper on land it is making excellent use of. That's why Israel is willing to put up with a solution which cheats the Jews out of land they would otherwise be entitled to keep or purchase. It is anything but unjust to the Arabs to let Israel have less than its fair share of land! Or to allow human rights for all the people of the region!

The author also comes up with the taunt that denying Arabs "their legitimate political rights has not made Israel safer." That's outrageous. There is no legitimate right to dissolve a neighboring nation and get rid of the human rights of its people. And it does not make one "safer" to agree to get rid of one's human rights, quite the contrary. He's simply blaming Israel for the aggression and slander against it.

At one point, Walt even asks "why should other Arabs believe that the United States is committed to freedom when its money and power are used to deny these rights to millions" of Levantine Arabs. Well, I think that there are plenty of flaws with American foreign policy. However, in my opinion, we deserve quite a bit of praise for supporting human rights in the Levant. We could do better. But if we take the author's advice, we'll be doing much, much worse.

I do not recommend this book.

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Exciting Ideas in Systems Thinking
Finding the Source of Power
Brief review of The Modern Doctirne -- POWER
A Philosophy Book from an Engineering Mind
Stellar application of systems thinking to business and life

Power: The Modern Doctrine
Hamid Noorani
Manufacturer: Writers Club Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0595012450

Book Description

POWER - The Modern Doctrine provides a detailed view of our currently evolving philosophy. The book offers a detailed worldview based on Systems-Thinking. It then considers and redefines some fundamental concepts in business and organizations, in terms of systems. This follows with a review of the principles of relationships. A rational model is then developed, which is used as a basis to define concepts such as ethics & pragmatism, integrity, learning, love, system design, and system management. The book then expands our understanding of political power and defines the concepts of sovereignty, trade, law, and integration. These ideas are then used to design a better system of government.

Customer Reviews:

Exciting Ideas in Systems Thinking.......2006-06-20

It's a business book. It's a philosophy book. It's a personal growth book. It's an introductory course in systems thinking. Whoa! How can you get excited about systems thinking? What the blue blazes is systems thinking and why should you be interested anyway?

Systems thinking is a method of looking at yourself, others and the elements of the world around you in a way that lets you see how it all connects and what effect each has on the other. It helps you take that which is complex and understand how each of its simple parts makes it complex. How the whole is greater than the sum of its parts by virtue of the interconnected effects. It helps you understand your individual place and great power as simpler part of a complex world. (Although you are also personally a complex system.) And this particular book shows you not only how to get that understanding but also how to immediately apply it to your daily life.

Each chapter takes a practical look at an issue that is related to your life, your career, your relationships, your politics, your success and much more. In each chapter, you understand more about using your interconnected relationships with the world around you. About how to develop your own individuality, effectiveness, power and contribution. I can get excited by those kinds of ideas. Can't you?

The book is very readable, organized, concise and useable. I recomend it for managers, teachers, professionals, students and anyone else who wants to learn how everything is connected and what to do with that knowledge.

Finding the Source of Power.......2001-05-30

I give Power: The Modern Doctrine 2.5 stars. Initially, I thought Power was a misleading title. It caused me to mentally misclassify this book and had me searching the wrong areas to reclassify it. Was the book about management, decision making, or human relations? Upon reflection, I realized Power exactly described what the book is intended to reveal. This book wants to show readers the path to seeing systemic design in the interactions of the world so as to empower the individual and society. This systemic design stems from personal values practiced by the people in it. The only other word that could have described this vision is "Beauty".

The book starts with a series of reflections. Chapter 1 explores the meaning of power. Chapter 2 creates the basic vocabulary of systems thinking that will be easily recognized by engineering and operations management students. Chapter 3-4 are a series of reflections on power and systemic situations or environments. Chapter 3 deals primarily with organizations. Chapter 4 deals primarily with relationships. Chapter 5 creates a solid model of analysis, but it is not uniformly applied throughout the remainder of the book. Chapter 6 (ethics & pragmatism) and 7 (integity) describes how individually determined values are integrated into our greater social system. Chapter 8 goes back to the individual and simple systems, like making coffee, or driving to work. Chapter 9 jumps to political systems.

Power is philosophical in nature and is personal as well as first person. The author has an engineering background, which shows throughout. Ideas and methodologies are borrowed from many disciplines including physics, communications, management, eastern and western philosophy, consulting and counseling. Sometimes these are blended seamlessly into a tapestry of concepts and reflections. I like the section on integrity where the word is described in the engineering, then the human sense. Later, the two meanings blend poetically into one. Sometimes, however, the various disciplines get in the way of each other and are presented a little sharpedged. The reader is left to adjust their mindset, sometimes abruptly. Chapter 5, The Rational Model, is disconnected from the chapters around it. Chapter 8 is also ill-placed.

This is really two books, one about the individual, the second about society. Many reflections on the individual focus on self realization as a way to see the extent of personal power. The sections on leadership are good and are clearly intented to be a stepping stone to discussion. Chapter 7 contained a section describing how different cultures see various values, such as self worth, in different ways. This could have been an entire book by itself. Chapter 9, on Political Power, is surprisingly insightful. But, it cries out for some examples including those from other cultures and alternative context. Politics is the sometimes the dirty, non-integrated side of business. So, the sections on sovereignty, integration, maintenance, and meritocracy apply equally to the business environment.

The book would have benefitted from division into parts or sections, each with their own introduction. Use of quotations, drawn from many disciplines and cultures that illuminated the intent of the chapter or reflection would have also added cohesion for the reader. I wish there were more hard hitting business examples to illustrate points and fewer civil engineering and home life examples. The value of Power is to understand the philosophy behind the word. For that reason, it is too thought provoking for use in the MBA classroom, but it is the kind of book one hopes budding, prospective business executives take the time to read.

Brief review of The Modern Doctirne -- POWER.......2001-05-14

I have read The Modern Doctrine -- Power and am happy to recommend it. It is very readable. The author has a great section on civics and does a masterful job explaining our form of government so that all can understand. This book describes the systems that make family, business, trade and government work to their fullest potential. Mr. Noorani gives great insight into the many aspects of life and society where mutual effforts to work together result in a common good that affects all of our lives in a positive way. I am glad to recommend this book to all.

A Philosophy Book from an Engineering Mind.......2001-04-04

The author does an excellent job by taking the reader through various challenges of personal and professional life and suggests practical approaches to problem solving. The book offers a good combination of both soft and hard approaches to identification of problems and opportunities that will knock on our doors during our lives. The book is highly recommended.

Stellar application of systems thinking to business and life.......2001-03-24

A wonderful accomplishment. Mr. Noorani takes the reader through a variety of life situations, from personal relationships to high-powered business deals, showing the various power dynamics in each scenario. Using a rigorous analysis, which incorporates concepts from a wide range of disciplines, Mr. Noorani helps the reader recognize and rectify problems existing within his or her own systems, whether personal or business-based. A carefully argued, logically reasoned, and beautifully organized text. Highly recommended.

Jacques Maritain (1882-1973 Christian Democrat, and the Quest for a New Commonwealth)

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Jacques Maritain (1882-1973 Christian Democrat, and the Quest for a New Commonwealth)
M. Susan Power
Manufacturer: Edwin Mellen Press
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Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

This book explores Maritain's vision of a new Christian commonwealth as an answer to the problems of the postmodern world. His sophisticated, moderate theory of Christian democracy appeals to a broad spectrum of Christian groups in various cultures.

The modern Tower of Babel: defending the new wave of First Amendment challenges to municipal billboard and sign regulations.: An article from: Planning & Environmental Law

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The modern Tower of Babel: defending the new wave of First Amendment challenges to municipal billboard and sign regulations.: An article from: Planning & Environmental Law
John M. Baker , and Robin M. Wolpert
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Planning & Environmental Law, published by Thomson Gale on October 1, 2006. The length of the article is 8585 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The modern Tower of Babel: defending the new wave of First Amendment challenges to municipal billboard and sign regulations.
Author: John M. Baker
Publication: Planning & Environmental Law (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 58 Issue: 10 Page: 3(9)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

The doctrine of modern Universalism: Considered in a series of essays, addressed to a Christian public

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The doctrine of modern Universalism: Considered in a series of essays, addressed to a Christian public
Jeremiah L Lesslie
Manufacturer: printed by Parke & Bennett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B00086VI6G

A poetical dissertation in two cantos,: On the doctrine of the nerves and physical powers of the human body. Drawn from the best authorities, ancient and modern

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A poetical dissertation in two cantos,: On the doctrine of the nerves and physical powers of the human body. Drawn from the best authorities, ancient and modern
Samuel Clarke
Manufacturer: Printed for the author
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Anatomy | Basic Science | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Anatomy | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0008A5HZA

Book Description

Diagnosis: Documentation and Coding illustrates the importance of data capture and will teach you accurate techniques for doing so. You'll also learn the basics for combining data with in-office demographic information to give the provider a strong position to negotiate managed care contracts.

Diagnosis: Documentation and Coding will lead to the successful implementation of managed care by providing the basics of using diagnostic structuring for:

How to frame diagnosis and its basis for accurate da`ta capture

How to use software programs to generate accurate in-office data

How to minimize coding errors and ensure accurate data collection for CPT coding

How to improve your accounting department to prepare your office for accurate utilization prediction

How to use clinical variation and outcome studies successfully in a managed care environment. END

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