What a ride the world has been on over the last thirty years: the fall of the Berlin Wall, China’s reemergence as a major power, the wishful creation of the BRICS, technological innovations, 9/11, conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, terrorism, the market crash of 2008, the Arab Spring, the Eurozone crisis, America’s reemergence as an energy giant, and the rebirth of czarist Russia. The most important change, though—and the key to America’s future—is globalization.

Globalization has made America less independent. It's fate is now interconnected to other major industrial countries, yet it's foreign policy has not adapted to this reality. In today’s world, the term “ally” is becoming rapidly irrelevant. The United Kingdom is an old ally of America, but as a result of economic codependencies, China is now much more important to the United States. Instead of thinking in terms of allies, think of US policy regarding other twenty-first-century nations as a set of concurrent joint venture agreements.

In THE JOINT VENTURED NATION, author Edward Goldberg argues that American foreign policy is too focused on a world that no longer exists, one in which political power is measured by military strength or fervent ideology. He details how America’s fate is now intertwined with its economic partners, and looks at how America should deal with states such as Russia and the various Middle Eastern nations that refuse to join the globalized world. Importantly, he shows how America can remain first among equals in a joint ventured world.

Edward Goldberg teaches international political economy at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs. He is also a scholarly practitioner at Zicklin Graduate School of Business, Baruch College, specializing in globalization. He is the president of the Annisa Group, a consulting firm focused on global economics and trade, and was a member of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy network election team. Goldberg writes regularly for the Huffington Post and the Globalist and is a frequent guest on Bloomberg Radio. He has also been interviewed on Public Radio, CBS Radio, the Associated Press Radio, and CNBC.