American Ideals

Let's talk now about your new book, which I will show the audience. It's called Beyond the Age of Innocence, and it's about perceptions of America abroad and how America's role has evolved in the world. Your analysis begins with the postwar period and you look at what America accomplished, from the end of World War II to the end of the Cold War. What were the most important features of America's role?

America accumulated huge reservoirs of goodwill from the end of World War II through the end of the Cold War because America portrayed itself as a country that was concerned not just about its narrow national interests but also concerned about the larger global interests. Certainly, one of the rules of the 1945 multilateral order that America created was of a level playing field for all nation states. The United States [established] the principle of one country - one vote in the UN General Assembly. Each country felt they had a right to be independent, to grow, to thrive, to succeed, and as you know, many countries, especially in East Asia, thrived as a result of the 1945 order that America created. By doing that, America accumulated huge reservoirs of goodwill.

There are two dimensions that strike me as very important now, although the situation is evolving. You talk a great deal about the battle of ideas and how much the United States accomplished in its rivalry with the Soviet Union and in its ability to win most of the world because of the ideas it gave to the world.

The rest of the world could see very clearly that the nature of American society was completely different from the nature of Soviet society. In the Soviet Union it was command economics. Things happened because of decisions made by a few people at the top, and the system implemented the decisions of a few. In America, you got the sense that the country belonged to the population as a whole, and the population determined the leaders that they should have. In the open, democratic system that America had, people thrived, people could grow, and people could succeed. One of the great things about America is the "Great American Dream," and this Great American Dream, as a result of the shrinkage of the world, was shared with the rest of the world.

What I say in the book is that America sprinkles magical stardust into the eyes of young people around the world by making them believe that they too can have the American Dream for themselves. By so doing, America changed the grain of human history, because for traditional Asian societies, what you became in your life was determined at birth. Your birth was your destiny. If you're born in the Untouchable caste, you remain in the Untouchable caste, if you're born in the Brahmin caste, you belong to the Brahmin caste, and that's where your life will remain forever.

This idea of America was that your future was your own. It wasn't determined by where you were born. You could make your own future. The sharing of that idea with societies all over the world is a very powerful [reason] that societies that have been dominated and unsuccessful for a long time have suddenly begun succeeding and doing well again.

Thinking back on your background, as you described it, these are ideas that made an impression on you as an individual.

Oh, definitely, because when I grew up in the 1960s and learned more about America, I also began to subscribe to the belief that I could have a different future than the one that was ordained for me. My great grandfather, my grandfather, my father were all mainly in the textile business because that's what all Sindhis -- I'm actually Sindhi -- are supposed to do. And indeed, I still have first cousins, and uncles, and aunties all doing this textile business. I benefited from this American idea that you could shape a different future, so I decided I would do something different from what my ancestors had done. Because I could feel the impact of this American Dream on my life, I can, in a sense, give personal testimony to the impact of the American Dream on the lives of people overseas too.

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