"At the heart of this book is a question as old as America and one that is crucial to our national self-definition: what can and should we do when violence breaks out in countries far from our borders? A work of uncompromising honesty, The Coming Anarchy is the first book to present a coherent picture of the political views of a man who has shaped national dialogue in this decade on key issues of international relations." "The Coming Anarchy takes on some of the most difficult issues we will be grappling with and living through in the next century. When we speak about the resurgence of ethnic violence, the social pressures of disease, environmental scarcity and overpopulation, and the rise of criminal anarchy, we are using language that Robert Kaplan brought into our homes."--Jacket.