The American Imperative

Reclaiming Global Leadership through Soft Power

By: Daniel F. Runde

Narrated by: Kent Klineman

It's time for America to get back in the international leadership game.

What should our global strategy look like in an age of renewed great power competition? And what must America offer to a newly empowered developing world when we're no longer the only major player?

In The American Imperative, international development expert Daniel Runde makes the case for building a new global consensus through vigorous internationalism and the judicious use of soft power. Runde maps out many of the steps that we need to take—primarily in the non-military sphere—to ensure an alliance of stable and secure, like-minded, self-reliant partner nations in order to prevent rising authoritarian powers such as China from running the world.

©2023 Daniel F. Runde (P)2022 Kalorama

Thorough in scope

This book is well worth the time of any practitioner, policymaker or student of international development and foreign affairs. It is thorough, filled with insider observations and insights and befitting for someone who has worked with Republicans, Democrats and independents. Unlike many, Dan genuinely sees both sides of policy dilemmas, is sympathetic and genuine in his ability to take programs and approaches at face value and assess their true impacts and consequences. As someone who lived through on the ground and in the field many of these policy areas I found my grasp and understanding hugely enriched by Dan’s book. My only complaint was the delivery and performance - I found the narrator’s pronunciations and delivery at times off putting and sometimes in error and would have preferred Dan Runde’s more colloquial and colorful delivery to the choice in the Audible book. I will probably download the Kindle version as well as I will surely double back on multiple chapters.

This is a timely and very helpful contribution as we pass the midpoint of the first Biden term.