Zbigniew Brzezinski dedicates his latest book to his students, which is appropriate because The Grand Chessboard reads like a set of lecture notes transcribed into prose (even the transparent overheads are reproduced!). Once past the underwhelming presentation, however, readers will find an interesting and informative look at the geostrategical situation facing the United States as it enters the 21st century.

Brzezinski, who was the American National Security Adviser from 1977 to 1981, argues that America's ability to continue as the only comprehensive global superpower is "directly dependent on how long and how effectively its preponderance on the Eurasian continent is sustained." American influence in the world is underpinned by its ability and willingness to guarantee the security of its allies on the western (Great Britain, Germany) and eastern (South Korea, Japan) extremities of the Eurasian continent; Brzezinski spends much of the book discussing how the United States can continue to play (and reap the benefits of) that role.

In Brzezinski's view, there are five broad geopolitical issues that will face the United States during the next few decades: What kind of Europe we want to see, what kind of Russia we want to see, how we can best calm the turmoil of Central Eurasia, how we can channel the expansion of the Chinese role in the Far East, and how we can discourage the formation of hostile Eurasian coalitions.

To discuss these issues, Brzezinski identifies five "key geostrategic players" that are actively pursuing geopolitical interests (such as greater regional hegemony) which might conflict with the interests of the United States: France, Germany, Russia, China, and India. In addition to discussing each of these countries and the challenges they pose in turn, Brzezinski points to five "geopolitical pivots" (numerologists might have fun with Brzezinski's endless series of five this and five that) where the outcomes of current conflicts will directly affect America's ability to maintain its Eurasian influence: Ukraine, Azerbaijan, South Korea, Turkey, and Iran.

It is no coincidence to Brzezinski that four of his five pivots are located in Central Eurasia. He sees the political instability of the area in and around the energy-rich Caspian Sea basin and Caucasian mountains as perhaps the greatest threat to world peace over the next few decades. This area, which Brzezinski calls the "Eurasian Balkans," is comprised of several weak, unstable, and often mutually hostile nations, which are threatened not only by each other but by the three geostrategic players (Russia, China, India) that border the area. Brzezinski's fear is that just as jostling over the European Balkans lead to World War I, competition over the Eurasian Balkans could also lead to a wider conflict.

The end of the Cold War also meant the end of foreign policy as a prominent topic of media coverage and public concern. The Grand Chessboard shows why the underlying cause of that shift in focus -- the perception that the post-Soviet world would provide no challenges to a safe American hegemony -- is mistaken, and why Americans need to be as interested as ever in the geopolitical shifts beyond our borders.

Review posted: 20 August 1998