Soon after being industrialized in the closing years of the 19th century, the United States became the most powerful nation on earth since imperial Rome. Though its unprecedented dominance of global economics, politics, science, and culture is still remarkably unrivaled, it cannot efficiently prevent “the rising of the rest”. In fact, the distribution of the power is shifting, moving away from American dominance to Asia, the Middle East, South America and every corner in the World, and the speed of shifting will inevitably increase. Every other country is eager to embrace the coming of the new era, but the question is: “Are Americans ready for the change”?
Although there have always been some skeptics about China’s growth, China has still grown over 9 percent a year for almost 30 years, the fastest rate for a major economy in recorded history. Some scholars have argued that these numbers are fake, and that corruption is rampant, bad debts are huge, regional tensions are mounting, and all these problems will eventually lead to the collapse of both the regime and economy. These predictions have been argued for two decades - since I was still a little child. However, most of them didn’t come true. There is one thing for sure, despite serious internal problems, China and other emerging powers, including India, Russia, Brazil, etc, will play more and more important roles in all kinds of international issues.
It took the author a whole chapter to compare the present situation of the U.S. to Britain’s once unrivaled empire. This may be because of the many contemporary echoes of Britain’s dilemma. Some scholars have pointed out that given its geography, population and resources, it could reasonably be expected to have 3 to 4 percent of Global GDP, but the real number is approximately ten times more than that. After other Western Countries caught up the industrialization, these abnormal imbalances would abate, suggesting that the big empires were bound to decline. Therefore, maybe the wonder is not that Britain declined, but that its dominance lasted as long as it did. Britain managed to maintain its superpower for decades even after it lost its economic dominance. According to the author, the trick is Britain accommodated itself to the rise of America instead of insisting on contesting it.
The main advice given by the author to American is to build broad rule, not narrow interests. The U.S should create a structure of rules, practices, and values by which the world will be bound instead of pushing its own particular interest abroad. In the age of rising new powers, all these rising countries will be eager to gain power and respect, for sure, but within the framework of the current international system. By doing so, American can ensure that the rising of the rest will not turn into a vicious competition, destabilizing the world. Most important of all, American themselves must value and follow the systems they’ve build.
A new era needs a new strategy. Unilateralism led the U.S. to become the only unrivaled superpower in the world, however, with cost of a lack of legitimacy. In this new age, especially in the wake of America’s financial crisis, the lack of legitimacy is a crucial deficiency. If Americans still think manipulating every international issue as much as they can, as they did in the previous century, will help them maintain their omnipotence, than this is just nostalgia, not a strategy.
Although there have always been some skeptics about China’s growth, China has still grown over 9 percent a year for almost 30 years, the fastest rate for a major economy in recorded history. Some scholars have argued that these numbers are fake, and that corruption is rampant, bad debts are huge, regional tensions are mounting, and all these problems will eventually lead to the collapse of both the regime and economy. These predictions have been argued for two decades - since I was still a little child. However, most of them didn’t come true. There is one thing for sure, despite serious internal problems, China and other emerging powers, including India, Russia, Brazil, etc, will play more and more important roles in all kinds of international issues.
It took the author a whole chapter to compare the present situation of the U.S. to Britain’s once unrivaled empire. This may be because of the many contemporary echoes of Britain’s dilemma. Some scholars have pointed out that given its geography, population and resources, it could reasonably be expected to have 3 to 4 percent of Global GDP, but the real number is approximately ten times more than that. After other Western Countries caught up the industrialization, these abnormal imbalances would abate, suggesting that the big empires were bound to decline. Therefore, maybe the wonder is not that Britain declined, but that its dominance lasted as long as it did. Britain managed to maintain its superpower for decades even after it lost its economic dominance. According to the author, the trick is Britain accommodated itself to the rise of America instead of insisting on contesting it.
The main advice given by the author to American is to build broad rule, not narrow interests. The U.S should create a structure of rules, practices, and values by which the world will be bound instead of pushing its own particular interest abroad. In the age of rising new powers, all these rising countries will be eager to gain power and respect, for sure, but within the framework of the current international system. By doing so, American can ensure that the rising of the rest will not turn into a vicious competition, destabilizing the world. Most important of all, American themselves must value and follow the systems they’ve build.
A new era needs a new strategy. Unilateralism led the U.S. to become the only unrivaled superpower in the world, however, with cost of a lack of legitimacy. In this new age, especially in the wake of America’s financial crisis, the lack of legitimacy is a crucial deficiency. If Americans still think manipulating every international issue as much as they can, as they did in the previous century, will help them maintain their omnipotence, than this is just nostalgia, not a strategy.
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