America at the Crossroads

America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy is a 2006 book written by Francis Fukuyama.

This book briefly discusses the history of neoconservatism, with particular focus on its major tenets and political implications. Fukuyama outlines his rationale for supporting the Bush administration, as well as where he believes it has gone wrong. Fukuyama argues that the Iraq invasion was poorly planned and orchestrated, and that the George W. Bush administration underestimated the social construction that would be necessary to create a new democracy after the war.

Fukuyama highlights the controversies that surround neoconservatism, describing how it has evolved into something he can no longer support.¹ He suggests that neoconservativism can be described as having four common principles through the end of the Cold War:

• A belief that the internal character of regimes matters and that foreign policy must reflect the deepest values of liberal democratic societies.
• A belief that American power has been and could be used for moral purposes, and that the United States needs to remain engaged in international affairs.
• A distrust of ambitious social engineering projects.
• A skepticism about the legitimacy and effectiveness of international law and institutions to achieve either security or justice.

At the conclusion of the book, Fukuyama proposes a new order in international politics, stating the world needs a change in its actual institutions, advocating what he calls multi-multilateralism.