Rethinking the Post-American World

Parag Khanna, Thomas P.M. Barnett, Nikolas Gvosdev | World Politics Review | 2010-07-13

Posited at the height of global discomfort with American unilateralism, the post-American world has become a widely accepted framework for understanding the emerging geopolitical landscape. But how have predictions of the shift in global power from the U.S. and the West to the East and "the Rest" stood the test of time and events? Have intervening developments confirmed the trajectory of the United States' relative decline and the emerging powers' relative rise? Or is it time to rethink the post-American world?

A Second Tour Through the 'Second World'

By Parag Khanna
The insights generated from geopolitical schools of thought give us enormous foresight into global trends. And for better or worse, they support the argument that the global power structure continues to rapidly diffuse away from American hegemony toward a post-American world. This diffusion is as inevitable as climate change.

A Divided 'Rest' Leaves America the Enduring Superpower

By Thomas P.M. Barnett
Reports of the imminent death of U.S. hegemony go at least as far back as the Nixon administration, and to date, they have all disappointed. While challengers have risen and fallen, none have managed to make themselves full-spectrum superpowers. Now, with the "rise of the rest," we are presented with the argument of a collective challenge to American world leadership -- a notion that will likewise prove disappointing.

Finding a New Model of American Global Leadership

By Nikolas Gvosdev
The debate over whether or not we have entered a "post-American world" has become predictably stale. In one corner are the "declinists" who talk of the debilitating costs of America's imperial overstretch, while in the other are the optimists, who say that even if the U.S. is facing some bad numbers, every other great power is in an even worse boat. Both sides, in a way, are right.

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Rethinking the Post-American World