At the dawn of a new political era, the world is witnessing both violent upheaval and new opportunity on a scale unknown since the discovery of the New World. Reporting from all six inhabited continents, with new material on the Soviet Union's collapse, award-winning journalists Robin Wright and Doyle McManus draw a vivid map of emerging trends that will shape the twenty-first century. It is a world in which: - Democracy is facing the same challenges socialism did; many new democracies will fail. - Economic strength is more important than military might; the superpowers are being replaced by "major powers" like Japan and Germany. - Ethnic and nationalist conflicts are redrawing the world map; dozens of new nations will be born in this decade. - Weapons of mass destruction are proliferating despite the Cold War's end; smaller countries now pose the same threat as the bigger powers. - Migration, at a record high, has become a dangerous political issue dividing the wealthy North from the poorer South. - The power of the individual is spawning a new generation of unconventional leaders, rising from the masses, not the elite. Praise for Flashpoints "Alarming . . . intriguing . . . a cogent and thoughtful work . . . [by] two of America's more accomplished journalists."--San Francisco Chronicle "A timely and stimulating book."--Senator Richard G. Lugar, Senate Foreign Relations Committee "A brilliant primer . . . fascinating."--Walter F. MondaleAbout the Author: Robin Wright is an American journalist currently covering US foreign policy for the Washington Post. She has reported for the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, the Sunday Times (London), CBS News and the Christian Science Monitor, and has served as a foreign correspondent in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. She has also written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the New York Times, and the International Herald Tribune. Wright received the UN Correspondents Association Gold Medal for coverage of international affairs, the National Magazine Award for reportage from Iran in The New Yorker, and the Overseas Press Club Award for "best reporting in any medium requiring exceptional courage and initiative" for coverage of African wars. For coverage of US foreign policy, she was named journalist of the year by the American Academy of Diplomacy for "distinguished reporting and analysis of international affairs" and won the National Press Club Award and the Weintal Prize for diplomatic reporting. Wright has also been the recipient of a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation grant. Wright has been a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Brookings Institution, Yale University, Duke University, Stanford University, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Southern California. She also lectures extensively around the United States and has been a television commentator on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and MSNBC programs, including Meet the Press, Face the Nation, This Week, Nightline, PBS NewsHour, Frontline, and Larry King Live.