The Joint Ventured Nation

Moving America from the Troubled Superpower to the Indispensable Partner

What a ride the world has been on over the last thirty years: the fall of the Berlin Wall, China’s reemergence as a major power, the wishful creation of the BRICS, technological innovations, 9/11, conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, terrorism, the market crash of 2008, the Arab Spring, the Eurozone crisis, America’s reemergence as an energy giant, the rebirth of czarist Russia, and the presidency of Donald Trump. The most important change, though—and the key to America’s future, despite Trump’s views—is globalization.

The Trump administration looks at foreign policy as a cutthroat competition that views the world as a zero-sum arena of economic combat. In The Joint Ventured Nation, author Edward Goldberg explains why this view is fanciful at best and totally lacks any understanding of how globalization has changed America and the world in the last fifty years.

Placing globalization within a larger historical, geopolitical and economic context, Goldberg demonstrates how an America First foreign policy is based on a world that no longer exists. He details how America’s fate is now intertwined with our economic globalized partners such as Europe and China. And he looks at how we should deal with states like Russia that have rejected globalization. Goldberg also looks at America’s allies in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia and Israel and questions whether America’s commitments in the region need to be seriously reevaluated. But most importantly he explains why the US role in the international arena has evolved from that of the “indispensible nation” to that of an “indispensible partner”—and how America can remain first among equals in a joint ventured world.

Edward Goldberg teaches international political economy at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs. He is also a scholarly practitioner at Zicklin Graduate School of Business, Baruch College, specializing in globalization. He is the president of the Annisa Group, a consulting firm focused on global economics and trade, and was a member of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy network election team. Goldberg writes regularly for the Huffington Post and the Globalist and is a frequent guest on Bloomberg Radio. He has also been interviewed on Public Radio, CBS Radio, the Associated Press Radio, and CNBC. Goldberg lives in Staatsburg, New York.

“Edward Goldberg gives us a cogent account of how we arrived in this new era when all the major nations, like it or not, are joint venture partners with one another. Critics who hope to roll back the tide of globalization are the modern equivalent of King Canute. This book is a must read for anyone interested in 21st-century US foreign policy, the emergent global economy, and the political challenges we face both at home and abroad.”
—William M. LeoGrande, Professor Government and Dean Emeritus, School of Public Affairs, American University and co-author of Back Channel to Cuba

“I found the historical context from which Edward Goldberg developed his argument for joint ventures among nations and economies in a post-Westphalian world to be fascinating and compelling.”
—Wayne Porter, CAPT, USN (ret.) and co-author of A National Strategic Narrative

“As globalization is both feared and misunderstood, Edward Goldberg’s timely book offers lucid and original analysis, placing globalization within a larger historical, geopolitical and economic context. Scholarly, yet witty and concise, this should be on every US and European politician’s reading list in the coming year.”
—Dr. Irene Finel-Honigman, Adjunct Professor of International Affairs, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University and author of A Cultural History of Finance

“The well thought-through discussion of why United States foreign policy is trapped in a world that is attributable to the failure to understand the far-reaching implications of how economic globalization is trumping political sovereignty. Discussing how to bring our foreign policy into the 21st century—reflecting the new reality of a globalized economic world—the author also addresses how the United States should deal with countries not part of that world, for example, Russia. A must read.”
—George Schwab, President Emeritus, National Committee on American Foreign Policy

“An innovative approach to the 21st-century world, and the US role in particular, creatively integrating the dynamics of the contemporary global economy and classical considerations of nation-state interests.”
—Bruce W. Jentleson, Henry Kissinger Chair, Kluge Center, Library of Congress and co-author of The End of Arrogance: America in the Global Competition of Ideas

“The Joint Ventured Nation features solid discussions of the changing nature of sovereignty, the power of the Federal Reserve, and the shifting geopolitical views of nations over the past decades...Some provocative ideas for policymakers.”
—Kirkus

“Goldberg uses the titular concept of the “joint ventured nation” as a way to describe the relationships the United States cultivates in our complicated universe. Instead of traditional allies, we create strategic partnerships based on narrower mutual (typically economic) interests to achieve common goals…. [The Joint Ventured Nation] is pragmatic and nonpartisan in scope.”
—Library Journal

“Edward Goldberg . . . argues that American foreign policy is too focused on a world that no longer exists, one in which political power is measured by military strength or fervent ideology. Goldberg details how our fate is now intertwined with our economic partners and looks at how we should deal with states such as Russia and the various Middle Eastern nations that refuse to join the globalized world. Most importantly, he shows how the United States can remain first among equals in a joint-ventured world.” —Andrew Hamilton, president, New York University