In The Global Gamble, Peter Gowan argues that, since the collapse of the Soviet bloc, the US government has been pursuing an attempt to construct a global empire a unipolar world in which Washington can control and shape the pattern of economic and political change in all regions of the globe. Only by understanding this ambition can we grasp the dynamics of international politics and economics in the contemporary world. Gowan explores the origins and distinctive forms of Washington's imperial project, from the collapse of the Soviet bloc through to the Gulf War of 1991, developments in the European Union, the enlargement of NATO and East Asian financial collapse. He also explores the efforts of various neoliberal intellectuals to legitimate the American project in terms of liberalism. He concludes that the US Faustian project is almost certainly doomed to failure and unless plans are made now for such an eventuality, the world could face grave and possibly catastrophic breakdowns early in the next century. Peter Gowan was Senior Lecturer in European Studies at the University of North London. He was co-editor, with Perry Anderson, of The Question of Europe, and an editor of New Left Review and Labour Focus on Eastern Europe.	Publication February 1999 280 pages Paper ISBN-13: 978 1 85984 271 3 £13 / US$20 / CAN$28