At the local Chapters today, I passed by Fareed Zakaria's (Newsweek International editor) shelf. There are dozens of copies of "Post American World" and not a single copy of "The Future of Freedom." If you wanted the "Future of Freedom," you would have to order it and wait two weeks for the warehouse to dig it up and ship it to the store.
This is not cool. "Post American World" is one of the dumbest books out there (though not as bad as "God's Debris" which you should only read if you hate your brain), while "Future of Freedom" is one of the awesomest, under appreciated gems of political philosophy out there.
The book is about liberal and illiberal democracies, and the thesis of the book, which deserves wider dissemination and acceptance, is that democracy is a product of liberal, responsive, and accountable societies, and not the other way around. Thus, forcing an illiberal, poverty and famine stricken society to adopt democracy will not only fail to improve conditions (economic, political, and human rights), it will also stifle development and create severe governance disincentives that prevent natural growth and lead to an unending cycle of corruption, waste and electoral fraud.
Thus, progress will not be achieved through hegemonic force-feeding of our values, but though progressive and sustainable market and cultural integration. And progress should not be measured through voter turnout, but rather on economic growth, institutional strengthening, and grassroots demands for accountability.
On a side note, I just picked up Dambisa Moyo's "Dead Aid," which harps on some overlapping themes, and hopefully will be an interesting read.
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