America at the Crossroads

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Not to be confused with America at a Crossroads, a PBS television miniseries about the war on terrorism

America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy is a book written by Francis Fukuyama in 2006.

This book briefly discusses the history of neoconservatism, with particular focus on its major tenets and political implications. Fukuyama outlines his rationale for supporting the Bush administration, as well as where he believes it has gone wrong. Fukuyama argues that the Iraq invasion was poorly planned and orchestrated, and that the George W. Bush administration underestimated the social construction that would be necessary to create a new democracy after the war.

Fukuyama highlights the controversies that surround neoconservatism, describing how it has evolved into something he can no longer support¹. He suggests that neoconservativism can be described as having four common principles through the end of the Cold War:

a concern with democracy, human rights, and more generally the internal politics of states;
a belief that U.S. power can be used for moral purposes;
a skepticism about the ability of international law and institutions to solve serious security problems; and finally,
a view that ambitious social engineering often leads to unexpected consequences and often undermines its own ends.

At the conclusion of the book, Fukuyama proposes a new order in international politics, stating the world needs a change in its actual institutions, advocating what he calls multi-multilateralism.