Rory Stewart and Gerald Knaus distil their remarkable firsthand experiences of political and military interventions into a potent examination of what we can and cannot achieve in a new era of "nation building". As they delve into the massive, military-driven efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans, the expansion of the EU, and the bloodless "colour" revolutions in the former Soviet states, the authors reveal each effort's enormous consequences for international relations, human rights and our understanding of state-building. Stewart and Knaus carefully parse the philosophies that have informed interventionism - from neoconservative to liberal imperialist - and draw on their diverse experiences in the military, non-governmental organisations and the Iraqi provincial government to reveal what we can ultimately expect from large-scale interventions and how they might best realise positive change in the world.