The Foreign Service Journal, October 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2016 73 ca at eight posts—twice as U.S. ambassador (Ethiopia and Guinea) and three times as deputy chief of mission (Nigeria, Cameroon and Togo)—and had to deal with some form of conflict at all of them. Déjà Vu All Over Again State Capitalism: How the Return of Statism Is Transforming the World Joshua Kurlantzick, Oxford University Press, 2016, $29.95/ hardcover, $9.99/ Kindle, 296 pages. Reviewed By Josh Glazeroff Economics affects politics. Why? How? These questions are at the heart of this thought-provoking book, as Joshua Kurlantzick takes a global view of government influence on the economy and what it means for policymakers. I recommend the book for those who fear that China’s economic—and by extension political—“model” is winning out, or who question how to address Russia’s current power plays in Europe. According to the author, a nation is defined as “state capitalist” if it has government ownership in or significant influence over more than one-third of the 500 largest companies, by revenue, in that country. As Kurlantzick notes: “Gen- erally, in these countries, the government sees itself as having a direct role to play in managing the economy and guiding the corporate sector.” The list, of course, includes China, but extends to Russia, India, Singapore, Viet- nam and others; and the total number of countries on it has steadily risen from a low point in the late 1990s—with great impact on the world economy. Kurlantzick couches his observations in terms of “threats.” In countries with state capitalist characteristics, govern- ment control of the economy threatens