A cold peace: America, Japan, Germany, and the struggle for supremacy

Abstract

As political and economic forces push the three superpowers--the United States, Germany and Japan--further apart, the Cold War could give way to a very "cold peace." That is the prognosis of Garten, who held senior White House and State Department posts under Nixon, Ford and Carter and is now an investment banker, in an important, clear-eyed book for anyone struggling to come to grips with the changing world order. Drawing on his broad experience, he argues that many disputes among the "Big Three" are rooted in the different kinds of capitalism the three countries practice. Relations among the Big Three, he predicts, may deteriorate through squabbles over regional trade blocs, aid to the former Soviet Union and the role of the U.N. and the World Bank. Garten paints a sobering picture of the "German Empire" 's dominant role within the European Community and of Japan's tightening rein over its East Asian superbloc. Calling for collective Big Three leadership to solve mutual problems, he predicts that America in the '90s will measure itself against what Japan and Germany are becoming