Is America in decline? Has America reached the limits of its influence as a global superpower, and will we see a further dilution of America’s power in the coming years? In light of the global financial crisis and the election of President Obama, (as well as more recent events like the abandonment of missile shields in Europe, the growing influence of the G-20, and falling confidence in the dollar), America’s status as a global superpower has come under more scrutiny.
These days, the popular and prevailing ideas are that America is not an indispensable superpower and that “multipolarity” is good for international politics. There are some dissenters like Josef Joffe, as well as me and my Georgetown colleague (sorry for the shameless self-plug), but we are a minority.
In his most recent article for the Weekly Standard, Charles Krauthammer disagrees with both camps, saying that there is no such thing as an inevitable trajectory for America’s future in international politics. Here’s a short excerpt that highlights his main argument:
Among these crosscurrents, my thesis is simple: The question of whether America is in decline cannot be answered yes or no. There is no yes or no. Both answers are wrong, because the assumption that somehow there exists some predetermined inevitable trajectory, the result of uncontrollable external forces, is wrong. Nothing is inevitable. Nothing is written. For America today, decline is not a condition. Decline is a choice. Two decades into the unipolar world that came about with the fall of the Soviet Union, America is in the position of deciding whether to abdicate or retain its dominance. Decline–or continued ascendancy–is in our hands.
The rest of the article is a great analysis and assessment of Obama’s foreign policy and how it is directly affecting America’s standing in the world. In my opinion, this is one of Krauthammer’s best articles of late, and that’s saying a lot. Highly recommended.
