For this new episode of the Building Bridges podcast, I’m happy to share the conversation I had with Bruno Maçães, a political scientist, former Portuguese minister, and author of several books.
His latest is titled History Has Begun: The Birth of a New America. It contends that although people believe America to be in decline, it may actually enter a new era of self-reinterpretation. America’s unique strength is its ability to general “virtual reality”, stories—from pilgrims to cowboys to social media and reality TV—which makes it uniquely adaptable.
Here’s how it’s summed up on the book’s back cover:
Popular consensus says that the US rose over two centuries to Cold War victory and world domination, and is now in slow decline. But is this right? History’s great civilisations have always lasted much longer, and for all its colossal power, the US was overshadowed by Europe until recently. What if this isn’t the end?
Bruno Maçães offers a compelling vision of America’s future, both fascinating and unnerving. From the early American Republic, Maçães takes us to the turbulent present, when, he argues, America is finally forging its own path. We can see the birth pangs of this new civilisation in today’s debates on guns, religion, foreign policy and the significance of Trump. What will its values be, and what will this new America look like?
But before writing about the US, Bruno Maçães published a book about China, and one about the “dawn of Eurasia”. He’s quite unique in that he brings together experience and extensive knowledge about three continents. That’s why I asked him questions about geopolitics and his understanding of the state of the world, China’s ambition, today’s American and the future of Europe.
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(Credits: Franz Liszt, Mephisto Waltz, S.514-extract from the album Miroirs by Jonas Vitaud, NoMadMusic.)
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