The Ideas That Conquered the World: Peace, Democracy, and Free Markets in the Twenty-first Century

by Michael Mandelbaum

In The Ideas That Conquered the Wold, Michael Mandelbaum describes the uneven spread (over the past two centuries) of peace, democracy, and free markets around the world. And he assesses the prospects for these ideas in the years to come, giving particular attention to the United States, which bears the greatest responsibility for protecting and promoting them, and to Russia, China, and the Middle East, where their fate will affect the rest of the world.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Political Science, Philosophy, Economics

Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Mandelbaum makes an impassioned defense of the classical liberal ideal of democracy, free markets, and peace. The book is mostly a history of these ideals, and how they have fared in world history. The author believes that they now stand unchallenged as ideals around the world.

Unlike most writers in this tradition, Mandelbaum is both humble and honest about his subject. He stays away from making bold predictions, and is honest about the downside to these ideals. Unfortunately, he never addresses the inherent weakness in the liberal tradition; the fact that in many ways, liberal states themselves seem unwilling or unable to defend it. However, Mandelbaum is one of the few writers in the liberal tradition who honestly approaches the moral deficiencies of illiberal states, and argues forcefully about their crimes, rather than concentrating on their economic failings.

[Kenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mandelbaum's main thesis seems to be that free markets beget freer societies. That with rising per capita income there was a corellation with liberal democracy as a result. I don't think he provides any definitive proof that this is the case.

[Levie Galapon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll start off by stating that Mandelbaum takes a liberal perspective in interpreting the post-cold war world. If you are very interested in how liberalism prevailed in the world after the cold war then this is the book you should read. Mandelbaum relates Woodrow Wilson's idealism and how it influenced American foreign policy for years to come. I find Mandelbaum's basis for his arguments to be quite strong yet repetitious. In my opinion this book is much longer than it should be. This five hundred page book could of easily been two hundred pages. But overall, Mandelbaum still makes good examples and arguments for his thesis. I believe this book will be interesting to those who want to learn more about the liberal perspective in interpreting history. Also those who are die hard free trade researchers will also find this book to be of value for research.