Chapter 22: US Decline in a Globalized World?
In the middle of the second decade of the twenty-first century, the United States, due to the combined effects of military overreach and economic disaster was categorized by some observers as being caught in an irreversible spiral of decline. The attacks on 11 September 2001 had fundamentally changed the American outlook on national and international security. The problems facing America went deeper, though, than Iraq and the ’war on terror’. Terrorism and the American inability to rein in opposition in Iraq and Afghanistan were merely symptoms of the relative ineffectiveness of traditional forms of military power. Meanwhile the defiance of North Korea and Iran was a reminder of the relative impotence of diplomatic and economic sanctions in the modern world and the ability of countries, even small ones, to maintain an independent course even in a globalized world. Given the failures in foreign policy and deadlock at home, particularly profound during the presidency of Donald J. Trump (2017–21), the world’s leading democracy seemed to be on an unstoppable path of decline. Yet in 2022–23, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, America’s role as the major defender of the liberal international order was again highlighted. While it is obvious that the United States is not an omnipotent superpower capable of effecting major change at will, it is equally clear that America remains a significant influence in a world that has been – and continues to be – profoundly transformed by the overall impact of globalization.
Multiple Choice Questions
Exam Questions
Discussion Questions
How has the “War on Terror” differed from the Cold War?
Why did the US expand the War on Terror to Iraq?
Why was the US unable to stabilize Iraq after the invasion in 2003?
Compare and contrast the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2000s?
How did the west respond to the Arab Spring uprisings?
Compare and contrast American responses to terrorism with those of South-east Asian states.
Compare and contrast the American attempt to limit access to WMD in Iraq, Libya, North Korea, and Iran.
To what extent was the American diplomatic position eroded by the time of Obama’s election in 2008?
How has the United States responded to the rise of China since 2000?
How far was Donald Trump able to alter American foreign policy priorities up to 2020?
Exam Questions
Is the American Century over?
How have American foreign policy initiatives of the 2000s in the Middle East exposed the limits of great power influence?
Do American foreign policy failures of the 2000s indicate the world is moving towards a multi-polar era?
Weblinks
http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB97/tal29.pdf – text of 2001 analysis of Al Qaeda in 2001
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/2001Bush-speech-sep212001-onWTC.asp – text of Bush speech in the wake of September 11, 2001
http://www.emersonkent.com/speeches/yes_we_can_obama.htm – text and audio of Obama “Yes We Can” speech in 2008
http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/phaseiiaccuracy.pdf – text of US Intelligence Committee report on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction 2006
http://www.defense.gov/pubs/pdfs/2012_CMPR_Final.pdf – text of US defense analysis of the rise of China 2012
http://www.mideastweb.org/saudipeace_friedman.htm – Review of Saudi Arabian peace plan for Israel 2002
http://www.mideastweb.org/abumazen.htm – text of inaugural speech of Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas in 2003
http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/prewar.pdf – Senate report on intelligence on Iraq prior to invasion 2007
http://www.people-press.org/2009/12/03/us-seen-as-less-important-china-as-more-powerful/ – Pew report on US influence relative to China 2009
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-acceptance-nobel-peace-prize – Remarks by Obama on accepting the Nobel Prize 2009
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