Suchergebnisse

The single organizing fact of the Cold War was "the bomb." In our present age of unipolarity, globalization, and the clash of civilizations, it is useful to remember that our current complexities exist only because the previous age of stark simplicity has passed into history. The decades from the end of World War II until the fall of Communism were years shaped by a nuclear standoff. The threat of nuclear conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union framed the politics and culture of the age. This framing was especially apparent in the 1950s and 1960s, before arms-control agreements lent an air of manageability to nuclear politics.

The American political system has many features that set it
apart from other governments of the world, but not all are
equally apparent. One distinctive aspect is the length and
importance of the transition period from one presidential
administration to another. In most countries the passage of
power occurs almost as soon as the election results are known
(consider, e.g., the rapid assumption of power by President
Kostunica after Slobodan Milosevic admitted defeat in the
September 2000 Yugoslav election), but in the United States
roughly ten weeks elapse between the election and inaugu-
ration. The American approach, as Charles Jones puts it in
this outstanding book, is to transfer power at a "leisurely
pace."