The book gives a historical summary of the global political order and American role in world affairs from the post-World War II establishment of the Bretton Woods system up through the present day.

[1][2][3] He also rejects terms like G2, often used to identify a possible strategic partnership between the U.S. and Chinese governments, and G3, which represents an attempt to align U.S., European and Japanese interests to defend free market democracy from the rise of state capitalism in China.

[citation needed] Those who argue that the G-Zero has become the current international order assert that the G7 has become obsolete, that the G20 offers too many competing visions of the proper role of government in an economy to produce well-coordinated policies, that China has no interest in the responsibilities that come with a G2, and that America, Europe and Japan are too mired in internal problems to forge a common approach to economic and security policy.

[citation needed] Bremmer says that governments can adapt to the G-Zero through focusing on regional solutions such as China's deals with the Association of South-East Asian Nations (A.S.E.A.N.)

[4] The concept of the G-Zero has been criticized by some who argue that it overstates the decline in America's political and economic power and underestimates the willingness of developing countries to play a larger role on the international stage.