In the Jaws of the Dragon: America's Fate in the Coming Era of Chinese Hegemony

America's fate looks dicey in the showdown with the Chinese juggernaut, warns this vigorous jeremiad. Fingleton (In Praise of Hard Industries) argues that China's East Asian development model of aggressive mercantilism and a state-directed economy effortlessly outperforms America's fecklessly individualistic capitalism. Nor will economic development democratize a quasi-fascist Confucian culture. More likely, Fingleton contends, is the Confucianization of America as Chinese wealth subverts American politics and media. Fingleton's brief against Confucian societies can seem vague and paranoid; fortunately, his economic analysis is incisive. His most telling critique is of American business elites and policymakers, who have wrecked the U.S. economy, he insists, by promoting laissez-faire nostrums, free trade and a hollowed-out service economy. More compelling than Fingleton's exaggerated dread of the Confucian dragon is his well-supported case for economic nationalism.