American Power in the 21st Century

by Held, David; Koenig-Archibugi, Mathias

• ISBN13: 9780745633473
• ISBN10: 0745633471
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-11-19
• Publisher: Polity

Summary

America wields a combination of military, economic and cultural power that many consider unprecedented. The way America uses this power has repercussions on every major issue of world affairs, including the prospects of regional security, the spread of democratic governance, and the provision of global public goods in economic and environmental domains.This volume explores the questions raised by American power from a variety of perspectives. Is the emphasis laid on military power likely to be self-defeating for the United States in the long run? Is "soft power" or persuasion a more effective way to promote American interests and goals? How is American predominance perceived in Europe, China and the Arab world? Will it last or will other powers coalesce to resist US hegemony? The authors address these and other fundamental questions in rigorous and historically sensitive analyses of this critical juncture in global politics.The book will be of great interest to students and scholars in political science and international relations, as well as all those concerned with and by one of the key topics of our time.Contributors include: Robert Cooper, Michael Cox, Zhiyuan Cui, Abdelwahab El-Affendi, G. John Ikenberry, Robert Kagan, Mary Kaldor, Joseph S. Nye, Thomas Risse.

Author Biography

David Held is Graham Wallas Professor of Political Science


Mathias Koenig-Archibugi is Lecturer in Global Politics, both at the London School of Economics and Political Science

Table of Contents

About the Contributors	vii
Editors' Preface	xi
Introduction: Whither American Power?	1	(20)
David Held
Mathias Koenig-Archibugi
Empire? The Bush Doctrine and the Lessons of History	21	(31)
Michael Cox
The First Failed Empire of the Twenty-First Century	52	(31)
Michael Mann
Liberal Hegemony or Empire? American Power in the Age of Unipolarity	83	(31)
G. John Ikenberry
Hard Power, Soft Power, and ``The War on Terrorism''	114	(20)
Joseph S. Nye, Jr
Power and Weakness	134	(33)
Robert Kagan
The Goals of Diplomacy, Hard Power, and Soft Power	167	(14)
Robert Cooper
American Power: From ``Compellance'' to Cosmopolitanism?	181	(33)
Mary Kaldor
Beyond Iraq: The Crisis of the Transatlantic Security Community	214	(27)
Thomas Risse
The Bush Doctrine: A Chinese Perspective	241	(11)
Zhiyuan Cui
Waiting for Armageddon: The ``Mother of All Empires'' and its Middle East Quagmire	252	(25)
Abdelwahab El-Affendi
Index	277