<P>In The Empire of Disorder, Alain Joxe offers the first truly comprehensive analysisof the new world disorder of the twenty-first century. The contemporary world, claims Joxe, isdominated by the American empire but not ordered by it. This "leadership through chaos," based onmaintaining a "creeping peace," is at the root of the present organization of violence and barbaryon a global scale. At the same time, national governments--including that of the United States--aredeclining in influence as the imperial system fosters transnational mafias, corporations, andmarkets.</P>