Since 9/11, the United States has abandoned its implied foreign policy of minimal international engagement. Instead, it has undertaken one of the most ambitious and risky ventures in international affairs: the quest to bring democracy to Afghanistan and Iraq. The U.S. may see itself as a reluctant empire, but President Bush has embarked on a policy that may force the country to become the very thing it claims to fear-an imperial power. Will George W. Bush's historic gamble succeed? Or will the push for democracy sow the seeds of religious conflict, state failure, and regional instability? Based on the Grano Series lectures, American Power brings together some of the world's finest academics, journalists, and thinkers to ponder these questions and others in essays that explore the potential and limits of American power in the twenty-first century, specifically in the Middle East. The contributors are, Robert Kaplan, Christopher Hitchens, Fouad Ajami, Bernard Lewis, William Kristol, Michael Ignatieff, Samual P. Huntington, and George Luckas.

Patrick Luciani In 2003, Patrick Luciani, an economist and writer, co-founded the critically acclaimed Grano Series (Salon Speakers Ltd). Based on the success in Toronto, the series is expanding to Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal. The Series brings leading global thinkers to Canada on a wide range of international topics and the Middle East. Speakers have included Christopher Hitchens, Samuel P. Huntington, Bernard Lewis, Robert Kaplan and Bernard Henri Levi. Patrick is co-editor (with Rudyard Griffiths) of American Power, published by Key Porter (2007), which captures the first eight lectures in the Grano Series. The Series has been profiled in major media across Canada. Patrick was Executive Director of the Donner Canadian Foundation for over 10 years where he started the Donner Book Prize on public policy and funded hundreds of public policy projects across Canada. In the 1980s he worked in the Ontario government as a senior economist. In 1994, he wrote the best-selling book What Canadians Believe, But Shouldn’t About Their Economy published by Addison-Wesley. The book dispels a number of myths that Canadians hold about public policy issues. The book is in its fourth edition and is still being used as a reader in colleges and universities across Canada. With Neil Seeman, Patrick founded the Canadian Statistical Assessment Service, based at the Fraser Institute, a research project (now merged with the Institute’s Centre for Risk and Regulation) to challenge urban myths in the media surrounding economics and public health. Patrick has published over 100 magazine and newspaper Op-ed pieces in publications such as the Globe and Mail, National Post, Financial Post Magazine and Canadian Business on a range of public policy topics. He has taught economics at George Brown College and the University of Toronto’s Continuing School of Education. He is currently a member of Massey College, University of Toronto, Senior Advisor to the Global Cities Program at the Munk Centre for International Studies, and Senior Fellow in urban affairs at the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies. Patrick studied economics at Queen’s and holds a Master’s degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Patrick Luciani's profile page